A months-long wave of protests has finally begun to hit Libya’s oil industry in a major way, with state-owned NOC conceding on 11 June that output had fallen to below the critical 1mn b/d mark.

“Production of crude has falen below 1mn b/d, resulting in an estimated fall in revenue of hundreds of millions of dollars, in addition to a fall in natural gas levels to the lowest levels,” NOC said. “Irresponsible actions on the part of some individuals” have resulted in the close of Tobruk and Zueitina ports and a sharp drop in production from major producing fields like the Repsol-operated 360,000 b/d Sharara field, Eni’s 100,000 b/d Elephant field, and Benghazi-based state firm AGOCO’s Mesla and Sarir. (CONTINUED - 312 WORDS)