The United Nations and Washington’s ambassador to Libya on Monday urged an armed group to lift a blockade at two major oil fields amid a mounting political crisis. Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said Sunday that production was suspended at the vast Al-Sharara and Al-Fil fields after gunmen cut off their pipelines.
Stephanie Williams, UN chief Antonio Guterres’s special adviser on the North African nation, said she was following the reports “with concern”. “Blocking oil production deprives all Libyans from their major source of revenue,” Williams wrote on Twitter. “The oil blockade should be lifted”.
US Ambassador Richard Norland also called for the blockade to “be lifted immediately”. Oil revenues are vital to the war-torn country, which sits on Africa’s largest known reserves. The NOC said the latest blockade would slash state revenues by around $35 million a day. —AFP
