The largest operating oil refinery in Libya has halted operations after clashes in the city of Zawiya, about 40km west of Tripoli, on the Mediterranean Sea.
“These clashes have so far resulted in the fall of several heavy-calibre shells in multiple locations within the company’s premises,” the Zawiya Oil Refining Company said in a statement. “This situation necessitated the immediate implementation of emergency measures, including the complete shutdown of the refinery … to safeguard the lives of employees, protect the facilities and preserve the surrounding environment.”
The company also moved oil tankers away from the port after several areas of the complex were hit by heavy shelling.
The clashes in Zawiya began after the forces from the Tripoli government's Joint Security Room began a large-scale operation against the hideouts of criminals, wanted people and outlaws in the city. Control of Libya is divided between the UN-recognised Government of National Unity in Tripoli and a separate government in the east.
The Zawiya refinery, with a capacity of about 120,000 barrels per day, is connected to the Sharara oilfield, which can produce about 300,000 bpd. It can produced an estimated $1 million worth of refined oil a day.
The Zawiya Oil Refining Company called on “all official state authorities to intervene swiftly and keep armed conflicts away from vital facilities, in order to protect workers and residents of nearby areas and to ensure the safe continuation of operations within the oil complex – particularly the Zawiya Refinery, whose activities are closely linked to the public interest and the security of the nation and its citizens.”
The National Oil Corporation, Libya’s state-owned oil company, issued a statement xaying that “staff working in the facilities, oil installations and the Oil Institute in the city of Zawiya are safe and in good health. All employees, workers and students at the institute have been evacuated”.
