Libya Is Said to Start Partial Shutdown of Its Biggest Oil Field

(Bloomberg) -- Libya started a partial production shutdown of its largest oil field, three people with direct knowledge of the operations said. 

Output at the Sharara field dropped by 30,000 barrels a day to 230,000 as of Saturday night after operators received orders to start partially shutting down production, according to the people, who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media. 

It wasn’t immediately clear what the reason was for the shutdown or when the field will come to a complete halt.

The field in southeast Libya is a venture between state oil firm the National Oil Corp., France’s Total SE, Spain’s Repsol SA, Austria’s OMV AG and Norway’s Equinor ASA. 

Libya has Africa’s biggest oil reserves but energy production has often been at the heart of the political conflict, with armed groups or protesters periodically shutting down facilities to press demands.

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