Bad weather forces closure of 3 Libyan oil ports

TRIPOLI, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Poor weather conditions in the oil crescent region of eastern Libya on Thursday led to temporary closure of three major oil ports, causing a sharp decrease of oil exports, an official said.

"Three oil ports in the oil crescent region were temporarily closed, due to bad weather conditions that prevented oil tankers from docking at the ports," an official of the state-owned national corporation of oil told Xinhua.

"The three ports are Brega, Zouitina and Sidra. They ship more than half of Libya's crude oil exports," the source said, noting that oil production has severely dropped.

Libya is experiencing the strongest thunderstorms in many years, which affect government operations and traffic in most parts of the country.

Libya's current oil production is more than one million barrels per day (bpd), the corporation revealed. Enditem