On 3 March, an armed group shut off the pipeline valve linking the Sharara, al-Feel and Hamada oil fields to Zawiyya and Mellitah oil terminals as well as Zawiyya refinery. The chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanallah stated, ‘We have been informed that a group of suspicious gangs led by Mohammed Al-Bashir Al-Garj shut down the pumping valves of crude.’ On 7 March, GNU Prime Minister Dabaiba, in his role as MoD, instructed the Western Region Joint Operations Room, led by Zintani commander Osama , to take all necessary measures to urgently reopen the closed valves.