Wednesday 30 March 2011

FT.com - The politics of oil: Wells of anxiety

Surrounded by gigantic sand dunes, el-Sharara oil field is one of Libya’s biggest. Perched on the edge of the Sahara south of Tripoli, the installation was smoothly pumping about 300,000 barrels a day of high-quality crude down an 800km pipeline to the Mediterranean coast until a few weeks ago.

Operated by Repsol YPF of Spain, the multi-billion-dollar project was seen as a sign that the Libyan energy sector, after 20 years of underinvestment and isolation, was enjoying a revival.

But as political unrest broke out in the north African country in late February, foreign workers at the field rushed to a remote desert airstrip and left, having halted output from the wells. As one executive puts it, the last man, literally, shut down the field.

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