Armed group shuts down Libya's pipeline 7, cutting crude output

The Petroleum Facilities Guard, responsible for protecting Libya’s oil infrastructure, has sealed pipeline 7, which transports crude from the Sharara field in the southwest to the port of Zawiyah in the north. The National Oil Corporation reports that the closure has already cut the country’s oil production and could harm the fragile economy. The armed group, now answerable to the Ministry of Defense, had earlier warned it would shut pipelines at several fields if its demand to be placed under the NOC’s financial and administrative authority was not met.

Earlier disruptions at three oilfields were briefly lifted, but the latest closure remains in effect despite NOC’s calls for reopening. The stoppage adds pressure to an already volatile international oil market strained by conflicts involving the United States, Israel and Iran, and could affect European imports that rely on Libyan crude.