By Sami Zaptia.
London, 22 December 2021:
Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced a state of force majeure on Monday at El-Sharara, El-Feel, Al-Wafa and Hamada fields after the Petroleum Facilities Guard shut down oil production.
The shutdown will lead to the loss of more than 300,000 barrels of oil per day. The loss will lead to the wasting of the country’s wealth and the continued impoverishment of the Libyan people, the NOC said.
It said it regrets what happened in this ‘‘new chapter in the series of closures that occur whenever oil prices improve.’’
NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla said, “We cannot accept or turn a blind eye to these practices that cause suffering to citizens, and we cannot make these practices a means to politicize the livelihood of the Libyans for regional purposes or to achieve gains and interests of Individuals without any concern to the ABCs of the professional work, and we will not allow them to play a role in the national oil sector.”
Sanalla added, “The implementation of our commitments to refiners in the oil market has become impossible, and accordingly we are obliged to declare the state of force majeure”.
The NOC said Sanalla had communicated with the decision-making circles in the country to inform them of the consequences of stopping production from losing sales opportunities and incurring direct and indirect costs.
This, it explained, extends to the loss of quantities of gas from the Al-Wafa field in its reservoir and its migration to neighbouring countries that have reservoir contact, which is impossible to recover. This affects the country’s gas reserves because it is adjacent to the Libyan-Algerian borders. In addition, the NOC said that “within days’’ it is forced to stop the Zawia refinery, which feeds the western region to the foot of the mountain with fuel.
Directly related to the shutdowns, the General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) had announced earlier Monday, “the gas supply to the power plants has stopped, 2,500 megawatts are lost, and it is difficult to provide electricity, and the affected stations are Al-Ruwais, Al-Zawiya, Al-Khoms and part of the Misrata station, and it will be difficult for us to provide energy.”
The NOC reported that it will inform the Public Prosecution, which it said ‘‘will certainly not allow any non-competent party “whoever it is” to impose its agendas, and it is certain that the Attorney General’s office will take the necessary measures to investigate and collect for information and inferences to reveal the planners, implementers and beneficiaries of this disgraceful act.’’
