The 340,000 bpd Sharara, Libya's largest oil field, was recently forced to stop production after the Sharara - Zawiya export pipeline was sabotaged.

Quick work by the National Oil Company (NOC) was able to repair a valve in little more than 24 hours that a local landowner had tampered with, resulting in the loss of nearly 340,000 barrels of oil.

Libya, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has struggled to boost oil production amid the lingering effects of civil strife that erupted earlier in the decade. Output has risen from 370,000 barrels a day two years ago, though it remains well below the 1.8 million barrels a day Libya pumped before the ouster and killing of former leader Muammar Qaddafi. Major oil fields including Sharara and El-Feel (or Elephant Field) have experienced sporadic disruptions before, occasionally setting back the revival.