By Moutaz Ali.
Tripoli, 26 May 2017:
The National Oil Corporation (NOC) has agreed on the importance of supporting private sector oil services companies – through partnerships between them and state oil companies in maintenance operations and the development of possible new projects at the oil fields.
The agreement came at a meeting yesterday at the NOC’s headquarters in Tripoli between NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla and the chairman of the Libyan Business Council, Abdellah Fallah. Accompanied by a small delegation, Falah presented a number of his members’ demands and concerns.
He later told the Libya Herald that the NOC and the private sector had to remain aside from any political struggles and that Sanalla had promised to support the private sector oil services companies.
“We discussed with them certain services such as logistics, cleaning and shipping [contracts for] which must go directly to the national companies,” he said.
“We also have demanded that the NOC adopt the Build, Operate Transfer (BOT) system in business contracts between NOC and the private sector,” he added.
Both sides also discussed the difficulties facing the oil services companies in obtaining hard currency at the official rate to import equipment so as to be able to compete with foreign companies. Sanalla was sympathetic, Fallah said, and promised to discuss the issue with the Central Bank of Libya and the Audit Bureau.
Another subject discussed and agreed by the two was the importance of investing more on providing training for Libyans working in the oil sector.
According to Fallah, Sanalla expressed optimism that oil exportation would increase during the second part of the 2017 and that this would result in more contracts for oil services companies.
