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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 6 July 2019:
Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC) yesterday welcomed Khalifa Haftar’s commitment to the legitimacy of the NOC and its sole right to export Libyan oil in accordance with Libyan law and UN Security Council resolutions.
Furthermore, the NOC called for the disbandment of the parallel institution (the NOC branch in the east) that it says has attempted to illicitly market discounted Libyan oil, and thereby putting to an end attempts to partition the national energy sector.
The NOC said that the parallel eastern based NOC institution repeatedly failed in its efforts due to the international community consistently upholding UN Security Council resolutions.
“Libya’s oil belongs to all Libyans, and the unity of NOC is essential for the unity of the country,” said Mustafa Sanalla, NOC chairman.
The “NOC is the exclusive steward of the country’s oil sector. Only cooperation can ensure the uninterrupted flow of oil and provision of state services to all Libyans. Stability in the Libyan oil sector will certainly contribute to oil market stability. NOC reiterates its opposition to militarisation of oil facilities.”, the NOC statement concluded.
The NOC statement came in response to an earlier Hafter statement saying that he he was not interested in exporting oil.
Some analysts were surprised by Hafter’s statement and felt it was made simply to allay the fears of the international community.
Others felt it was simply an admission of failure having failed, despite many attempts, to export any oil in the face of international resistance.
Many fear that if Hafter’s war effort falters he would have no option but to either attempt to export Libyan Oil directly in order to fund his war effort or disrupt oil supplies to Tripoli in order to deprive them of oil revenues.
