JOHANNESBURG - All oil exports from Libya's eastern al-Hariga and Zweitina seaports have been suspended after operations were halted.
The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Monday a crisis following military strongman Khalifa Haftar's recapture of ports in Libya's oil crescent last month has slashed production by 850,000 bpd, Al Jazeera reported.
"National Oil Corporation has declared force majeure on crude oil loadings at Al Hariga and Zweitina oil terminals", it said in a statement.
Exports from two other ports, Ras Lanuf and Al Sidra, seized from a rival militia by Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), were already suspended on June 14.
Haftar's forces warned that "no tanker will be allowed to dock" in the ports without permission from a rival NOC based in Benghazi, and said they would hand the installations and their revenues to the eastern administration that rivals the UN-backed government in Tripoli.
Additionally cuts to gas and other petrochemical exports amount to a loss of $67.4m per day despite the North African country’s heavy reliance on oil for public revenue.
Libya is divided by two governments vying for control of the country.
The internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in the capital Tripoli in the West and the House of Representatives (HoR) in the east which is supported by renegade general Hafter’s LNA.
The LNA recaptured the terminals in June after they were seized by armed groups led by militia leader Ibrahim Jadhran, who had controlled them from 2011-2016.