The National Oil Corporation of Libya has demanded for an immediate reopening of the shut oil pipelines located south west of Libya.

This is coming days after it has announced plans to resume crude exportations from the oil terminals in the east.

The pipelines in Al-Rayana town, connect El-Sharara oil field which has a production capacity of about 370.000 barrels a day to the Al-Zawiya refinery, and the El-Feel oil field which produces around 58.000 bpd to the Mellitah Complex.

El-Sharara oil field is located about 800 km to the southwest of Tripoli. It is a joint venture between National Oil Corporation (NOC) and Repsol, while the El-Feel (Elephant), oil field is situated onshore in Libya's Murzuq Basin, 200 km to the southwest of Sabha. It's a joint venture between ENI and NOC.

According to the Chairman of NOC, Mustafa Sanallah, oil production could be boosted to 250,000 bpd by the end of 2016 and 350.000 bpd by June 2017 from both oil fields if the pipelines were reopened.

“At the national level, we can increase oil production to 600,000 bpd within a month, 900,000 bpd by the end of the year, and 1.2m bpd in 12 months,” he said.

In November 2014, soldiers from Zintan town shut the oil pipeline in Al-Rayana due to the takeover of the field by a military force linked with Libya Dawn Operation. Five months after, the same militias shut the second pipeline linking El-Feel oil field to the Mellitah Complex.

The shutting of these pipelines has resulted in the loss of $27 billion in production, Libya Observer reports.

Anita Fatunji