Monday, Feb 21, 2011
(Adds analyst comment, further details.)
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Production at Libya's Nafoora oilfield hasn't been stopped amid ongoing unrest in the country, but it is operating with half of its usual staff, officials at Arabian Gulf Oil Co., or AGOCO, said Monday.
"Al Nafoora is working as normal, we have not halted production," a senior manager at AGOCO told Zawya Dow Jones by telephone.
Another official familiar with the company's operations said management had been worried operations could be affected after 50% of the workforce didn't show up Monday.
"They were short of manpower but there was no instruction to stop the production, so they are now operating as usual but with 50% manpower because the workers were worried about their families in Benghazi and Tripoli so they left to be with their families," the second manager said.
Earlier on Sunday, Al Jazeera television reported Libya had stopped output at its Nafoora oilfield in the Sirte Basin, the most prolific oil province in North Africa, due to strikes by workers.
Kuwait-based oil analyst Kamel Al Harami said if Libya's oil production was to be halted by the current political turmoil then oil prices could rise above $110 a barrel with consumers in the U.S., Northern Europe and the Mediterranean likely feeling the pinch.
"If oil prices go beyond $110 a barrel it will create inflation and recession, the global economy is now on the verge of recovery and it won't be able to afford such a rapid jump in oil prices," he said.
Front month ICE Brent crude futures last traded Monday $1.73 higher at $104.25 a barrel.
Al Harami said that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and non-OPEC members Russia, Norway and the U.K. might however be able to step in and help supply the market with a similar grade of light, sweet crude that Libya produces if production was to be halted.
-By Tahani Karrar-Lewsley, Dow Jones Newswires; +9714 446-1692; Tahani.Karrar@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
21-02-11 1305GMT
