Update: An armed group led by Ahmed bin Nayal, loyal to warlord Haftar, has attacked El Sharara oilfield again and ordered engineers to stop production , the National Oil Corporation reported

The Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) has declared force majeure on exports in Sharara oilfield this morning and then hours later lifted it and resumed operations, according to reports by Reuters.

The NOC said in a statement on Tuesday that an armed group threatened Sharara oilfield workers and coerced them to stop production, saying it strongly condemns the crime committed by an armed group, which came from Sebha and stormed the Sharara oilfield and pulled their guns on civilian unarmed workers, coercing them to stop production at the field at dawn on Tuesday, only three days after production was resumed.

NOC confirmed the shutdown of production and declared force majeure on the Sharara field crude oil exports since the morning.

NOC considered the acts of this armed group under the so-called Brigadier General Mohamed Khalifa, commander of the so-called Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) in the South, and Ahmed Ibrahim bin Nayel, to be a serious crime that amounts to treachery against the Libyan people and the national economy.

"The shutdown of production will cost the treasury further losses and will lead to new technical damages. NOC also expresses its concern about the breach by this armed group of the strict coronavirus pandemic control program followed in all the facilities of the corporation and considers their entry into the field in this way to be a serious threat to the health of workers." NOC said in a statement.

NOC also confirmed that it had informed the Public Prosecutor’s office of this crime and that it will take every possible measure to pursue these criminals at the local and international levels.

It also expressed its total rejection of the presence of any armed personnel inside its facilities in all its sites, any interference in its work, and any attempts to use the Libyan people's sustenance and only source of living as a political or military bargaining chip.

The first reopening of Sharara oilfield since July was announced on Sunday, knowing that Haftar's loyalists shut it to use it as a pressure card in political negotiations at the time at Berlin Conference.