By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 16 June.2013:
A delegation from the Oil and Gas Ministry, headed by the Minister, Abdulbari Al-Arusi, and accompanied by . . .[restrict]his deputy, Omar Shakmak, visited Misrata on Saturday to inspect the Libya Iron and Steel Company and Sirte Company for Oil Production and see the work and challenges there.
Misrata Local Council, the Shura council and members of civil society organisations had talks with Arrousi on the challenges the city faces specially in the energy sector.
They called on the Oil and Gas Minister to pay more attention to Misrata and so enable it to rebuild after the damage that occurred during the war with Qaddafi’s battalions in 2011.
Problems over gas supplies as a result of disruptions by oil and gas field protestors figured significantly among complaints to the Minister.
“There is no alternative to natural gas to operate the factory, and we need the Oil and Gas Ministry to help us in this matter,” the Manager of Libya Iron and Steel Company (Lisco), Mohamed Faghi, said.
The company had helped the country paying a billion dinars into state coffers after the liberation, he said. Now it was time to help the company.
Al-Arusi told Lisco to form a committee to prepare a report of its demands and the problems it faced which could then be discussed in Cabinet.
“We are facing many problems such as insecurity and stealing of cars as well as issues of accommodation and transport for company users from outside of Misrata,” ? Operations Manager at Sirt Oil Company told the Libya Herald.
He added that the company knew the challenges that the government faced at present but there were some urgent problems which needed quick solutions.
Arusi explained that the continued protests that blockaded the oil fields had caused a serious reduction in oil daily production. It is now down to around million barrels of oil a day. [/restrict]
