Schlumberger, the world's largest oil services company, shut down its Libyan operations amid rising political tensions in the North African country. The company added that it is restarting operations in Egypt and Tunisia following political unrest in those countries.
The situation in Libya is viewed as particularly fragile because the country is an OPEC member with daily production of 1.1 million barrels of crude. Libya is also home to Africa's largest oil reserves, but observes say the regime of dictator Moammar Gaddafi could be toppled at any moment.
Libya accounts for just 1% of Schlumberger's annual revenue, according to Reuters. Schlumberger (SLB) CEO Andrew Gould called the situation in Libya "disturbing" and said his company is monitoring developments across the region.
Earlier this week, BP (BP), Europe's second-largest oil company, and Statoil (STO), Norway's largest oil company, announced that they halted some of their Libyan activities due to the escalating tensions in the country.
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