Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced yesterday that the Tripoli based Libyan Prime Minister, Abdel Hamid Aldabaiba, had accepted the resignation of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NOC, Farhat Bengdara.
The NOC said Bengdara had submitted his resignation because of ‘‘emergency health conditions that prevented him from performing his duties and responsibilities optimally’’.
Masoud Suleiman Mousa appointed temporary Acting Chairman
The NOC confirmed that Aldabaiba has appointed Masoud Suleiman Mousa, member of the NOC Board of Directors, to assume the duties of Chairman of the Board of Directors temporarily, until the upcoming meeting of the Council of Ministers to take a decision to form a new Board of Directors.
The NOC affirmed its full commitment to continue working to ensure the stability of the oil sector and enhance its role as a key pillar of the national economy.
Bengdara had been a consensus appointment with Hafter
Bengdara had been appointed in July 2022 (replacing Mustafa Sanalla) as part of a wider compromise and political agreement with Khalifa Hafter. This agreement comes as part of ending the Hafter war on Tripoli and a quid pro quo for Hafter not to shutdown oil production in eastern Libya. Eastern based Libyan oil production constitutes about two-thirds of Libya’s total production.
