Protesters of a Libyan minority demanding more rights at Mellitah port, operated by Italy's Eni and Libya's National Oil Corp, have ordered staff to halt gas exports to Italy, an oil union official said.
"We tried to convince them not to close the pipeline, but it's closed now," Munir Abu Saud, head of the local oil workers' union, told Reuters.
A spokesman for the protesters said they had ordered the closure of the pipeline to Italy, because parliament and government had not met their demands for greater political rights by yesterday.