Blast hits Libyan crude pipeline, cutting output by 90,000 bpd

Armed men blew up a Libyan pipeline pumping crude oil to Es Sider port on Tuesday, reducing the North African country’s output by around 90,000 barrels a day, military and oil sources said.

The attackers arrived at the site near Marada in two cars and planted explosives on the pipeline, a military source said.

Pictures purportedly showing a huge cloud from the blast in central eastern Libya circulated on social media.

The damage was still being assessed, one oil source said. Oil prices rose on the report.

Daesh fighters had a presence in the area until government forces expelled them from their main stronghold in Sirte a year ago.

The operator of the pipeline is Waha, a subsidiary of Libya’s National Oil Corporation and a joint venture with Hess Corp, Marathon Oil Corp and ConocoPhillips.

Waha pumps a total 260,000 barrels a day, its chairman said last month.

Libya’s oil production was last put by officials at around one million bpd but exact figures are hard to obtain a country riven by factional conflict.