By Tom Westcott.
Tripoli, 6 November 2013:
Mellitah oil and gas complex is back up and running, despite the ongoing presence of Amazigh . . .[restrict]protestors in the port, according to the National Oil Company (NOC).
“The complex is working as normal and we still have gas going to Italy through the Greenstream,” NOC spokesman Mohamed Harari told the Libya Herald.
The Amazigh protestors, who have been inside the port since Saturday 26 October, had threatened to cut the gas pipeline on Sunday if demands relating to the constitution were not met. Dissatisfied with the two seats reserved for Amazigh on the 60-member Constitutional Committee, they are demanding a greater representation.
“They want some things from the government and the General National Congress (GNC)” Harari said. He added that these were not related to oil and gas.
The protest had prevented ships docking at the export terminal to load but, in the last 24 hours, Harari said, ships had started loading. “The situation is normal today,” he said.
He confirmed that the Amazigh were still occupying part of the port but said that they were being “quiet.” Negotiations are understood to be underway between the protestors and representatives from the GNC and government.
However this morning Paolo Scaroni, the ENI CEO was reported as saying that the terminal was under attack, even though he added that he did not forecast gas supply problems for Italy.
According to the Italian news agency ANSAmed, Scaroni said: “In the last few hours the Mellitah terminal, from where the Greenstream pipeline to Sicily starts, is under attack.”
The Mellitah complex, which is operated by ENI with NOC, has the capacity to produce some 160,000 barrels per day (bpd).
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