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By Hadi Fornaji.
Tripoli, 19 December:
A protest at the Obari oil field that lasted nearly three weeks is over after Oil . . .[restrict]Minister Abdulbari Al-Arusi travelled to the region and met demonstrators.
Younis Essa, a leading Tebu in contact with the protest leaders, told the Libya Herald that Laroussi had agreed to the protestors’ demands during the meeting, and the Sharara oil field could resume production.
Essa said that in the meeting, which took place in Obari on Monday, Laroussi agreed to provide training and qualification to local graduates who are not qualified to work in the company, and allow former revolutionaries from the area to join the border guards and to work on the oil fields.
He also said that Laroussi had agreed to start new projects to help develop the town of Obari.
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said in a speech to the General National Congress on Monday that the protests at the Sharara oil field had cost the state $350 million in lost revenues.
Production at the Sharara oil field was badly affected after a group of protesters began picketing the site around 4 December.
The protesters, who were mostly Tebu, then picketed the site as they felt that local people were being denied the chance to work in the oil field.
The Sharara field is a joint venture between the National Oil Corporation’s Akakus company, which owns 51 per cent, and the Spanish oil company Repsol, which owns 49 per cent. [/restrict]
