The National Oil Corporation in Libya announced, on Thursday evening, the state of force majeure on the ports of Sidra and Ras Lanuf, in addition to the El Feel field, with the continued state of force majeure in the ports of Brega and Zueitina, noting that the country lost 16 billion Libyan dinars.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Libyan Oil Corporation, Eng. Mustafa Sanalla, confirmed in a statement that it has become impossible to feed the power stations of Zueitina, North Benghazi, and Sarir with their needs of natural gas, because the production of crude oil is linked to gas from the fields of the Waha and Mellitah companies, which led Libya to faltering supplies of the coastline with natural gas. .
Sanalla added, “Today, more than ever, we are faced with stressful challenges represented in our inability to cover the needs of vital facilities in the country with fuel, and that exchanging crude oil from the available production for liquid fuel is at stake as a result of the sharp drop in production, as well as the disruption of fuel account feeding. In hard currency, due to the refusal of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance to liquidate the allocations in US dollars, so it is not surprising that the crisis will escalate in the summer season unless oil production is resumed or the current deficit in the hydrocarbons account is addressed.
Sanalla continued, saying, “Politicians have wrong beliefs that have stuck to the oil issue, explaining that the political difference is a right, but the mistake is to use oil, which is the livelihood of the Libyans, as a bargaining chip, describing it as an unforgivable sin.”
In this regard, Eng. Sanalla said, “The sins of the politicians are mortal and the situation is difficult and arduous, and the apparent foretells of dangerous money that affects the quality of life of the citizen unless oil and gas production is resumed – now – and immediately.”
Sanalla pointed out that the losses resulting from the closures have exceeded 16 billion Libyan dinars to date, stressing that production has decreased sharply, as daily exports ranged between 365 to 409,000 barrels per day, a decrease of 865,000 barrels per day from production rates in normal conditions, in addition to Loss of 90 million cubic feet per day of gas from the El Fargh field and about 130 million cubic feet per day of natural gas from the Abu Atfal fields.