Saudi Arabia lifts Gulf oil loadings as Libya's Sharara field output halves
Sharara's output has fallen to about 127,000 barrels a day after a pipeline shutdown, even as Saudi Arabia sends more crude out of the Gulf
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Map: The Middle East, marking Strait of Hormuz
UpdateMonday, September 21, 2026 at 8:30 PM ET
Libya's National Oil Corporation said an armed group shut a valve on the pipeline to Zawiya, causing the drop at Sharara. The corporation warned that if the closure runs into a second week without resolution, it will halt production and exports at the field entirely.
Saudi Arabia has increased observed crude loadings from the Persian Gulf, even as Libya's Sharara oil field, one of the country's largest, has seen output fall by more than half to about 127,000 barrels a day.
The drop at Sharara follows the shutdown of its pipeline to the Zawiya export terminal. An armed group closed the line, and most of the field's crude is now being redirected to the port of Mellitah instead.
The moves come as traders track two other developments. In the Gulf, Iran's Revolutionary Guard has threatened a wider war if the United States escalates, with U.S. and Iranian officials due to hold talks in New York this week. Separately, U.S. and Chinese officials held a second day of trade talks in New York, focused on artificial intelligence and investment, ahead of a Trump-Xi summit set for September 24 in Washington.
Saudi Arabia's higher loadings and the loss of Libyan barrels are pulling supply in opposite directions at the same time, and neither is large enough on its own to settle where prices go next. With Iran tensions unresolved and the U.S.-China trade talks still running, traders are left waiting on the outcome of the Trump-Xi meeting and any progress with Iran to decide whether tighter supply or demand concerns end up setting the price.