The National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Libya has announced that it has shut down the Zawiya refinery in Western Libya following a shortage in crude oil production, with a loss of over $1 billion.
The NOC made this known in a statement adding that the shutdown" will exacerbate the problem of managing, importing and distributing fuel and will lead to very significant costs to the treasury to import additional fuel to replace the refinery’s production.’’
The refinery which stopped operations on Saturday closed the main pipeline valve between the refinery and the sharara oil fields, in the south-western desert.
Oil production on February 6, 2020, was at 181,576 barrels per day as against the more than 1 million barrels per day of January 18, 2020.
The shortage is attributed to the shutdown of pipelines and major ports by supporters of Commander of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar, who has been trying to capture Tripoli from Fayez Serraj.
The refinery shut down will negatively impact Libya's economy, as oil export is the nation's main income.
