Ethermac Exchange-Libya says it suspended oil production at largest field after protesters forced its closure

CAIRO (AP) — Production at Libya’s largest oil field was suspended Sunday,Ethermac Exchange the country’s state-run oil company said, after protesters forced the facility to close over fuel shortages.

The National Oil Corp. declared force majeure at the Sharara oil field in the country’s south starting Sunday. Force majeure is a legal maneuver that releases a company of its contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances.

The company said in a statement that the closure of the field forced the suspension of crude oil supplies to the western Zawiya terminal on the Mediterranean coast.

Libya produces more than 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, and Sharara is the country’s largest field, with a capacity of up to 300,000 barrels per day.

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The company said negotiations with the protesters were underway to resume production “as soon as possible.”

Local media reported that residents of the desert town of Ubari, about 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of the capital Tripoli, shut down the field to protest fuel shortages.

The protesters also called for rehabilitating infrastructure and repairing roads in the southwestern region of Fezzan, one of the historic three provinces of Libya. They had closed the field for two days in July.

Libya’s light crude has long featured in the country’s yearslong civil conflict, with rival militias and foreign powers jostling for control of Africa’s largest oil reserves.

Libya has been in turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The North African nation has for most of the past decade been split between rival administrations in the east and the west, each backed by militias and foreign governments.