By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli/Tunis, 14 May 2017:
The National Oil Corporation has denied allegations from the state electricity company GECOL that a lack of oil and gas is the reason for the power cuts being suffered by the west of the country.
Two days ago, following a couple of days of eight-hour power cuts amid soaring temperatures, GECOL issued a statement claiming that there had a loss of 750 megawatts of electricity generated because of insufficient oil and gas being supplied to fuel the power stations.
In reply, NOC has said that there has been no cut in the amount of fuel being supplied to power plants. On the contrary, it says, the amount supplied has been over and above what was agreed.
Furthermore, it has had no notification from GECOL of any shortages.
All the gas fields that feed the power stations are producing normally, it points out, with the exception of Wintershall’s gas field which has not been operating since June 2013. It fuelled the power station at Zueitina.
Power outages yesterday in Tripoli were down to an average of around two hours. Temperatures, though, have also fallen.