Libya: rebels halt oil production

Libya: rebels halt oil production

Libyan rebels have halted production at two oilfields and diverted badly-needed troops from their front line to guard them after two days of attacks by loyalist forces.

A rebel mans an anti-aircraft weapon in front of an oil refinery in Ras Lanuf Photo: REUTERS

By Ben Farmer, Benghazi 11:57PM BST 06 Apr 2011

Col Muammar Gaddafi's artillery struck fields in Misla on Tuesday and Waha on Wednesday, according to a spokesman who said engineers were now assessing the damage.

The raids are a blow to the Libyan rebellion which hopes to fund its seven-week-old insurrection by resuming lucrative exports from eastern oilfields under its control.

The two fields are deep in the desert south of Ajdabiya and thought to be only lightly guarded, as rebel leaders have concentrated their best forces along the coastal front line.

Hafiz Ghoga, a rebel spokesman, said: "These oilfields are the ones that pump oil to Tobruk. They stopped pumping today." He added: "We are now providing more protection. We have even moved people from the front [to the fields]."

A tanker sailed from Marsa el Hariga, near Tobruk, on Wednesday with the first consignment of crude sold by rebels since their uprising began in mid-February.

The Liberian-registered vessel was reported to be carrying a million barrels of oil and rebels say they have another million in reserve.

Rebels have said until the closure, their fields were pumping around 100,000 barrels a day. Before the revolution, Libya produced around 1.6 million barrels per day and exported more than four-fifths.

Mr Ghoga said: "We hope that production will continue at the rate of the past but because of the damage that has come to our fields because of Gaddafi's military tools, our production has been affected."

Abdel Fatah Younis, chief of the rebel military, said on Tuesday that the Misla attack had not caused serious damage.

He said: "Damage is not significant and we are trying to fix it."

The Libyan deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday that a British air strike had hit its major Sarir oilfield and damaged a pipeline connecting the deposit to a Mediterranean port.

"British warplanes have attacked, have carried out an air strike against the Sarir oilfield which killed three oilfield guards and other employees at the field were also injured," Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said.
Telegraph.feedsportal.com