By Saber Ayyub.
Tripoli, 12 July 2015:
The state-owned General National Maritime Transport Company (GNMTC) has denied rumours in Tripoli and elsewhere in . . .[restrict]the country that its tankers went to Ras Lanuf to upload oil.
Last week, despite the NOC in Tripoli announcing that force majeure had been lifted at the oil terminal, two Greek tankers turned away from it after warnings from the Beida government that no such statement had been made by its NOC chairman and that any attempt to take oil would be regarded as theft.
Reports in Tripoli appear to have confused the Greek vessels for Libyan ones. GNMTC has 25 tankers which are hired to various clients, mainly the NOC, to transport Libyan oil.
Speaking to the Libya Herald, the company’s General Manager, Khaled Twati said it was trying to keep out of the current political conflict. “We are simply an ordinary commercial company trying to find clients to hire our tankers. But now we are suffering because our tanker crews are afraid to sail to many Libyan ports,” he explained.
In May, a company tanker, Anwar Afriqiyah, was hit by LNA plane near Sirte while delivering fuel there. “The NOC hired Anwar Afriqiyah for one trip to take diesel from Agioi Theodoroi Port in Greece on 19 May and deliver it to Sirte Power Station but unfortunately it was targeted by a jet which caused substantial damage to the tanker and injuries to its crew,” Twati said.
He added that GNMTC respects to International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules which prohibit the use of ships and tankers in illegal operations. [/restrict]
