By Mohammed Jetutu, in Cairo
Men with guns have returned to determine how much of Libyan crude gets to the market.
The action of the last 60 hours has been the most disruptive in 18 months.
On September 15, 2026, protesting Petroleum Facilities Guards (PFG) guards closed a pipeline valve in the Hamada region, forcing a complete halt at the Hamada, Tahara, and NC5 fields.
Six days later, September 21, 2026, they closed the valve No 7 on the pipeline from the major (~300,000Barrels of Oil Per Day (BOPD)) Al-Sharara oilfield to Zawiya port, cutting output by about half.
One consequence of this was the shutdown of the country’s main oil refinery, which put Tripoli’s primary fuel supply at risk and threatened roughly one-quarter of the country’s total oil production of around 1.4Million barrels per day.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC). said that the Sharara-Zawiya crude loading pipeline closure has led to daily losses of about 130,000BOPD.
Despite the closure of the Zawiya oil refinery, the country’s second-largest, access to the Brega Petroleum Marketing Company, which runs the refinery, was partially granted, the NOC said.
It is often the case that these shut downs happen at the behest of warlords, but the official statement says that the guards carried out the shutdown in protest, over financial demands.
The year 2026 in Libya has been worse than the previous year in terms of challenges to hydrocarbon production. In 2025 the country achieved its highest annual oil output in 12 years, averaging 1.37MillionBOPD. It has improved on that in 2026, but fitfully so, as September 2026 incidents indicate. In contrast, 2025 was marked by a relative de-escalation of hostilities.
The NOC said the current shutdown could lead to “a complete paralysis of operations at the complex,” affecting fuel supplies and public revenues.
