Libya’s oil company says largest oil field shut down again

A unit affiliated with Libya’s east-based forces that have been trying to capture Tripoli but are now on the retreat, ordered the country’s largest oil field to halt work just hours after it restarted operations, the national oil company said Tuesday.

Armed groups stopped oil production at the Sharara field on two occasions in just 24 hours, the corporation said. Hours after one military commander allowed the oil to start flowing again, another group stormed the field and shut the valves. The company said that force majeure — a contract clause that refers to the inability of the company to meet its obligations because of extraordinary events — remains in effect.