By Ahmed Elumami and Tom Westcott.
Tripoli, 13 September 2013:
The oil strikes that have brought the country’s oil production down to just . . .[restrict]230,000 barrels per day (b/d) are threatening the payment of public sector salaries.
A production rate of 397,000 b/d is required to pay salaries alone, a member of the GNC Energy Committee, Sulaiman Gajam, told the Libya Herald. He added that, unless production quickly climbed back up to this figure, by the end of the year there would be a problem with paying salaries.
“Of course there will be a big shortage in paying the salaries because of shutting down the oil fields and terminals all over Libya,” Planning Department Manager at the Ministry of Oil, Samir Kamal, told the Libya Herald. He said the Ministry of Oil and Gas hoped that the Libyan government would give priority to salaries.
Income from oil exports went to the Finance Ministry, Kamal said. On Wednesday Finance Minister Abdelkarim Kilani said that he estimated that the financial losses from the closures of the country’s oil fields and export terminals were around LD 200 million a day. He added that these losses were non-recoverable.
There are concerns that the strikes will affect Libya’s position in the oil market, sending buyers elsewhere. This could have a knock-on effect on the country’s sales of crude next year, Kamal said. [/restrict]
