By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 2 January 2015:
After nine days, firefighters at Sidra oil port have managed to extinguish the inferno caused by a . . .[restrict]militia rocket.
Fired by Libya Dawn on 25 December, the rocket first started the fire in one oil tank, but the flames quickly spread to six other tanks at the terminal.
The spokesman for the Petroleum Facility Guards (PFG) stationed in eastern Libya, Ali Al-Hassi, has confirmed that the fire, though “out of control for nine days”, has indeed been fully extinguished.
According to Hassi, some 70 volunteer firefighters and employees from local oil companies worked together at great risk to put out the fire while the Libyan National Army (LNA) battled Libya Dawn forces nearby.
There are 19 storage tanks at Sidra with a total capacity of 6.2 million barrels of oil, and it is believed that over $100 million worth of oil was lost in the fires.
The state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC) has said that oil production in Libya was slashed in half, down from 800,000 b/d, once clashes erupted in the Oil Crescent on 13 December.
On Monday, the House of Representatives (HoR), brokered a $6-million deal with a US company to extinguish the fires but will now be able to save the money.
Sidra oil port is fed by fields run by Waha Oil Company, a joint-venture between the NOC and the US companies, Hess, Marathon and ConocoPhillips. [/restrict]
