The production of Libya's main grade of crude oil, called Es Sider, has collapsed after the terminal that exports the oil to global markets was shut by protesters, Libyan oil officials said late Wednesday.

The collapse of Es Sider production suggests the country's overall output has started to decline again after a brief rebound. It comes after the International Energy Agency warned that unrest in key oil producing countries could offset the impact of surging U.S. shale output.

The Libyan officials said production from fields feeding the Es-Sider grade--which forms the largest part of Libya 's oil exports--has fallen to about 10% of its normal level. That's because most storage facilities are now full after the terminal was closed about ten days ago by protesters demanding more jobs or unpaid wages, the officials said.

Output from the 360,000 barrels-a-day Waha concessions, the foreign partners for which are U.S. oil companies, has dropped to 30,000 barrels a day, as only two of the smaller fields are still producing, one official said.

A spokesman for Marathon Oil Corp., one of the shareholders of the fields, referred a request for comment to Libya 's National Oil Co., which couldn't be reached. Spokespeople for ConocoPhillips (COP) and Hess Corp. (HES), the two other foreign partners in Waha's concessions, couldn't be reached for comment.

The 34,000-barrels-a-day Mabruk oil field, which is operated by a Total SA (TOT) joint-venture with Libya , averaged 3,500 barrels a day this week, a person familiar with the matter said. A Total spokesman confirmed production at the field had been reduced because of the closure of the Es Sider oil port.

Libya 's deputy oil minister Omar Shakmak said Monday that oil production had rebounded to 700,000 barrels a day, close to half the country's normal level and double the amount to which it had dropped last week. But Libyan oil officials said production had now fallen again because of the sustained closure of terminals.

Libya 's oil production and exports haven't dropped to such levels since 2011, when a civil war that toppled long-time leader Moammar Gadhafi shut down the country's oil exports.

The return of geopolitical concerns to oil markets has dimmed hopes that a U.S. shale boom could put a lid on the prices motorists pay at the pump.

Διαβάστε ακόμα