Status of Libyan Loading Ports and Oil and Natural Gas Fields
September 10, 2013
Overview
During July and August 2013, protests at major oil loading ports in the central-eastern region of Libya forced the complete or partial shut-in of oil fields linked to the ports. As a result of protests at ports and at some oil fields, crude oil production fell to 1.0 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in July and 600,000 bbl/d in August, although the production level at the end of August was far lower. At the end of August, an armed group blocked pipelines that connect the El Sharara and El Feel (Elephant) fields to the Zawiya and Mellitah export terminals, respectively, forcing the shutdown of those fields. El Sharara had been producing 340,000 bbl/d for most of August, contributing to more than half of the month’s average. The El Feel field had been shut in from the end of May to around August 10, and had ramped up to 70,000- 80,000 bbl/d prior to the latest shut-in.
EIA estimates that Libya’s effective capacity is slightly below 1.6 million bbl/d, placing unplanned crude oil disruptions at almost 600,000 bbl/d in July and close to 1.0 million bbl/d in August. Unplanned outages at the end of August mounted to 1.35 to 1.4 million bbl/d. The high level of outages continued into September, and EIA estimates that crude oil production averaged 200,000 to 230,000 bbl/d for the first week of this month. Libya’s crude oil exports are estimated at 80,000 bbl/d, coming entirely from offshore platforms, according to various news sources. Only three out of nine loading ports are currently able to load crude oil.
During the recent crisis, particularly after the situation escalated at the end of August, different estimates of crude oil production have been reported by various news and trade press sources. Recent estimates range from 150,000 to 250,000 bbl/d. The range reflects the precarious nature of the situation and the ambiguities surrounding the production level as varying estimates have been given by Libyan government officials.