Oil production is reduced in Libya's Sharara field production, NOC says

(Reuters) -Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Tuesday that it is gradually reducing production from the Sharara field, one of Libya's largest oil fields, citing force majeure due to protests in the area.

Production at the field is still reaching 200,000 barrels on Tuesday, two field engineers told Reuters. The field has the capacity of about 300,000 barrels per day.

Sharara, located in southwestern Libya and operated by a joint venture of the state National Oil Corporation (NOC) with Spain's Repsol, France's TotalEnergies, Austria's OMV and Norway's Equinor, has been a frequent target of local protesters.

In the statement, NOC attributed the gradual reduction in output to "force majeure circumstances resulting from a sit-in of the gathering of the Fezan movement".

Sharara was also shut down by protests in January, one of many disruptions to Libya's oil output in the chaotic decade since the country divided in 2014, which left it with separate administrations in the east and west following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

(Reporting by Ayman Al-Warfali in Benghazi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)