Protests demanding Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah's dismissal have spilled over into Libya's vital energy industry, forcing two ports to cease loading oil supplies.
After "a number of persons" imposed a halt in production at El Feel, a 65,000-barrel-a-day facility that feeds the port, the state-run National Oil Corporation. declared force majeure on loadings at Mellita port in western Libya on Sunday.
According to those acquainted with the situation, operations at the Zueitina export terminal in eastern Libya were also halted on Sunday owing to anti-Dbeibah protests.
"They requested anonymity since they are not permitted to speak to the press. A tanker at the terminal’s anchorage set to load 1 million barrels wasn’t allowed to," two of the people said.
According to Bloomberg data, Libyan crude production has averaged just over 1 million barrels per day this year, down from about 1.2 million in 2021.
The reduction is costing the country millions of dollars in missed revenue, and it comes at a time when the global oil market is already tight, with Brent crude prices surging above $110 per barrel in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
El Feel is near Sharara, Libya's largest oil field, which feeds the port of Zawiya.
In a statement released on Sunday, the NOC urged the oil sector to be allowed "outside of hostilities, to maintain what's left of the ailing infrastructure owing to random blockades and lack of finances in recent years."
The outages coincide with a standoff between competing parties in the North African country, which has been plagued in instability since the collapse of dictator Moammar Al Qaddafi in 2011.
After former interior minister Fathi Bashagha was declared as prime minister in February, Dbeibah is defying calls from certain parliamentarians to resign.
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