Protesters agree to end blockade of western Libya oilfield pipelines

Protesters blockading pipelines to Libya’s Sharara and El Feel oil fields have promised to reopen them and production could restart in the coming days, security officials and an oil source said on Wednesday.

A faction of Libya’s Petroleum Facilities Guard that has blockaded one pipeline since November 2014 and another since April 2015 said in a statement they had agreed to reopen them. The statement was confirmed by a senior military official who said the blockade would end by Thursday.

A National Oil Corporation (NOC) source confirmed the deal, but said the resumption of production was not guaranteed, as similar pledges in the past had fallen through. The NOC has said that the two fields could add 365,000 barrels per day (bpd) to national production.