Output at Libya’s Sharara oil field, seen here in 2014, has been shut almost continuously since early January.
Photo:
ismail zetouni/Reuters
Production at Libya’s largest oil field restarted Sunday afternoon, Libyan officials said, a move that could quickly increase the country’s overall output after an extended shutdown and add to a glut of oil on world markets that has kept prices low.
Libya’s central government and rebel commander Khalifa Haftar agreed last month to lift a nine-month oil blockade after the two sides resolved a dispute over oil revenue distribution. The country’s oil output has already increased to 300,000 barrels a day from about 100,000 barrels a day in the past two weeks.
Sharara can contribute an additional 300,000 barrels a day, the officials said. Its initial output was 27,000 barrels a day as of Sunday. Output at the field has been shut almost continuously since early January—except for a short resumption in June.
The slow return of Libya’s shutdown production has already put downward pressure on oil prices, and is a consideration in a debate in Saudi Arabia over whether to boost production from next year.
Libya, one of the worlds biggest producers, pumped some 1.3 million barrels a day before the standoff forced officials to shut down production.
Write to Benoit Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com
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