National Oil Corp., Libya's state-owned national oil and gas company, on Tuesday warned that it may be forced to declare force majeure and suspend operations at the Zawiya refinery following a series of recent drone strikes targeting the facility.
Oil wells in Zawiya continue to face sabotage attacks by drones. A recent drone strike targeted the Zawiya company's oil mixing and bottling plant located near a main storage tank and pipeline network which was used for oil production for the local market, the company said in a statement issued on Facebook.
"This attack is the third of its kind in the past two days, which threatens the oil wells in the area and calls for the urgent and precise intervention of specialized authorities under various names," the statement said.
The latest attack did not cause any human or material damages, the company said.
According to multiple media reports on Tuesday, emergency services personnel were trying to bring under control a huge fire at the 120,000 barrels per day plant following a drone strike by unknown attackers on Monday evening.
A tank holding about 4.5 million liters of fuel was hit, sparking a massive fire and causing it to collapse, BBC reported, citing the NOC.
The attacks highlight Libya's ongoing instability, with the country divided since the civil war that followed the ousting of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, the BBC report added.