BENGHAZI, Libya  - Libya's eastern al-Bayda oilfield has halted work due to pipeline maintenance work, field engineers said on Wednesday.

The field pumped until the closure around 7,000 barrels a day, forcing state oil firm AGOCO, part of NOC, to lower production to 270,000 bpd, the engineers said.

(Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli Writing by Ulf Laessing Editing by Catherine Evans) ((Ulf.Laessing@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: follow me on twitter @ulflaessing))