Libya's El Feel oilfield has been shut down since Thursday after the state oil company, National Oil Corporation (NOC), used its pipeline to transport crude from the Sharara field, which was damaged by fire, two El Feel engineers said on Monday.

Sharara oil flows were redirected via the El Feel pipeline to Mellitah port and through the Hamada pipeline to storage tanks in Zawiya, the engineers said.

Pumping capacity ​from Sharara via the alternative pipelines is between 80,000 ​and 100,000 barrels per day (bpd), said an engineer from the Sharara oilfield.

El Feel, which has a capacity of 80,000-90,000 bpd under normal circumstances, is operated by Mellitah Oil and Gas, a joint venture between NOC and Italy's Eni.

Production at El ‌Feel ⁠is expected to resume in a week to 10 days, one of the engineers said.

Sharara is one of Libya's largest oil production areas, with a capacity of between 300,000 and 320,000 bpd. ⁠The field is linked to the country's 120,000 bpd Zawiya refinery about 40 km (25 ​miles) west of capital Tripoli.

The field is operated by a joint venture of NOC, via Acacus oil company, with Repsol, TotalEnergies, OMV and Equinor.

Libyan oil output ⁠has been ​subject to repeated closures for ​various political and technical reasons since the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.