The National Oil Corporation (NOC) declared Sunday the force majeure on the El Feel oil field after an unknown group forced the workers to halt operations on the site.

"The El Feel oil field was subjected to arbitrary closure due to the entry of a group of individuals and the prevention of workers from continuing production," a post on the NOC Facebook account read.

It explained that the closure of the field prevents the corporation from fulfilling its contractual obligations, and accordingly, the NOC is obliged to declare a state of force majeure on Mellitah crude until further notice.

The NOC urged giving precedence to the language of reason and to distance the oil sector from conflicts, noting that the sector's infrastructure is suffering due to the random closures over the past years, as well as the scarcity of budgets.

It may be worth noting that members of the 5+5 Joint Military Committee from the eastern region called last week for the closure of oil fields and halting of exports until the handover of power to the parallel government appointed by the east-based House of Representatives to replace the Government of National Unity lead by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.