CAIRO — The closure of Libya’s major oil fields and production facilities has resulted in losses of more than $255 million in the six-day period ending Thursday, the country’s national oil company said Saturday.
The closures came when powerful tribal groups loyal to military commander Khalifa Hifter this month seized several large export terminals along the eastern coast as well as southern oil fields. Hifter controls those areas of the country.
The moves were meant to challenge Hifter’s adversaries in the west, the U.N.-backed, but weak rival government that controls the capital, Tripoli.
The National Oil Corp., which dominates Libya’s critical oil industry, said its assessment showed that “the illegal shut down of its facilities has resulted in losses of nearly 256.5 million USD until January 23.”
It put the average daily loses at $42.8 million.
It said oil production has fallen from over 1.2 million barrels a day before the declaration of force majeure on Jan. 18 to 320,154 barrels a day. The sudden disruptive event meant the oil corporation would be unable to fulfill international contracts.