By Moutaz Mathi.
Tripoli, 29 August 2016:
The head of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) based in Tripoli, Mustafa Sanalla, has accused the Presidency Council of losing Libya $10 million a day because of delays in providing cash to the corporation to enable it to do its job properly.
In a statement on the NOC website, Sanalla demanded an explanation for the lack of cash.
“The Financial Arrangements Committee of the Presidency Council needs to explain the delay because every day our country loses over $10 million because of the shortfall, and that is money we will never recover,” he said.
The lack of money from the PC, he explained, had caused a major deficit in the NOC’s budget which then caused a shortfall in production by Arabian Gulf Oil Company and Sirte Oil of 229,000 barrels a day since the Presidency Council took control of Libya spending in March. It represented a total of 35 million barrels, worth $ 1.56 billion.
If the PC provided the NOC with the necessary annual funds to run oil operations in Libya, Sanalla pointed out, it would recoup the money within two or three months.
Sanalla also noted that the NOC has no control over the receipts from oil sales and that all oil income goes directly to the Central Bank of Libya. Like any other state institution, the NOC is then allocated funds by the government to run its business.
The NOC chairman has become increasingly disgruntled with the PC as well as with those who support it. Last month he attacked UN Special Envoy Martin Kobler for meeting with Ibrahim Jadhran, who he called a criminal.
