Libyan oil output down to 500,000 bpd

Unrest in Libya has cut oil output to about half a million barrels per day from 1.6 million bpd as many foreign and local workers left the oil fields, the country’s top oil official said.

“Oil production went down. Now production is about half a million,” Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation, told a news conference.

“In Libya’s oil industry, fields are scattered in the desert. Many foreign workers panicked and wanted to leave, and Libyan workers too,” he said.