By Libya Herald journalist.
Tunis, 6 March 2015:
The National Oil Corporation (NOC) has denied reports of Libyan oil being illegally smuggled out . . .[restrict]of Libya as ‘‘false and not true’’.
‘‘With reference to news which has spread lately through some international press agencies and some social network pages, in which it was stated that Libyan oil is being smuggled into international markets beyond Libya’s legitimate authorities, the NOC”, continued the statement, ‘’would like to ensure that no incidents of such smuggling have been registered whether by the official authorities of the Libyan terminals or NOC’s affiliated bodies along the Libyan coast.’’.
‘‘Therefore’’, the statement continued, ‘‘all those (news) leaks are false and not true. These news are intended to cause confusion within the local community and affect people’s confidence in the official institutions. These institutions are very keen to maintain the Libyan people’s wealth and resources, and manage and invest them in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations’’.
The NOC further added that ‘‘in order for NOC to maintain the wealth and resources of the Libyan people, it has reported to the Attorney General and the Audit Bureau, proven incidents of fuel smuggling (gasoline and diesel) from the local markets to overseas markets. These fuels are imported to cover the domestic needs, and they cost the Public Treasury huge amounts of money. The NOC took this step to stop this attrition which exhausts the Public Treasury’’, the NOC explained.
Furthermore, the NOC emphasized that ‘‘any export of crude oil or hydrocarbons by bodies other than NOC at its legal and permanent headquarters, is considered an act of smuggling, and all authorities of the state must stop it. The NOC and Brega Company’s responsibility regarding the fuel distribution for the local markets end at the time when the four distributing companies (Libya Oil, Al-Sharara, Alrahela and Al-Toroq Assareeya) receive the fuel along with the Ministry of Economy and other authorities responsible for fuel distribution and follow up in all Libyan cities’’, the statement concluded. [/restrict]
