Libya’s Sharara Oilfield will not be reopened again, after being closed for a month, until the groups occupying the field leave, National Oil Company (NOC) head announced on January 29, Reuters reported.

“The armed group attempting to hold NOC and Libya’s economic recovery to ransom must leave the field before NOC will consider restarting production,” NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla told a Chatham House conference in London.

The field was under force majeure since December 2018 which caused losses by around 13,000 barrels per day (b/d). NOC announced on January 3 that the field might lose around 8,500 b/d because of looting.

Before shutting down the field, it used to produce around 340,000 b/d.

Currently, Libya is producing below a million b/d, Sanalla said, below average production in 2018 of 1.1 million b/d.