By Michel Cousins.
Tripoli, 28 March 2013:
Protestors who have been preventing Waha Oil’s Gialo 59 field from operating have lifted their blockade . . .[restrict]according to a source in nearby Jalu. They did so, the source said, after being told that the oil company had terminate a contract with an oil services company that was at the heart of the dispute.
“The protestors stopped this morning after they were told that the oil Minister ?Abdulbari Al-Arusi had told Waha to cancel contact with Al Daam services,” the source reported. “The vehicles (blocking the entry) and the tents have been removed.”
The 17-day blockade was over a service contract to private-sector company Daam Oil Field Services which locals said had resulted in loss of local. They were demanding that Waha agree to employ local people, especially as drivers.
A week ago, Arusi was quoted as saying that with the protestors blockading the oilfield, the dispute had resulted in national output being cut by 120,000 barrels a day. [/restrict]