The Minister of Interior, Major General Imad Trabelsi, revealed yesterday that 490 petrol stations, being exploited for fuel smuggling operations, were shut down.
He said this action is part of a security plan coordinated with Security Directorates to ensure citizens' needs are met.
Trabelsi was speaking during a press conference in his role as Chairman of the Fuel and Petrol Crisis Committee. The extensive meeting was held to discuss the situation of fuel and its distribution mechanisms, in the presence of committee members, representatives of oil companies, and the relevant security and supervisory authorities.
The meeting was attended by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Public Affairs, Major General Mahmoud Saeed, members of the Fuel and Petrol Crisis Committee, as well as representatives of oil companies, and several heads of agencies and departments and security directors in the regions.
Trabelsi said Libya’s on-and-off fuel crisis requires a concerted effort—with the government, the Ministry of Interior, the oil sector, companies, security agencies, regulatory bodies, and citizens all working as a single, unified system.
Besides the petrol stations shut down for fuel smuggling, he said approval has been granted to operate approximately 365 petrol stations based on actual needs, emphasizing the necessity of leaving technical matters to the relevant specialists, free from any outside interference.
He said urgent, clear solutions to the crisis will be devised, resulting in practical measures and actionable decisions, with work underway to address the root causes within days.
The National Oil Corporation and oil companies are facing certain issues, and these challenges have contributed to exacerbating the fuel crisis, he revealed.
Trabelsi vowed to continue to combat the manipulation of fuel and diesel supplies and their inflated black-market prices—practices that benefit smugglers at the expense of citizens and the national economy, he concluded.
Libya's perennial fuel crises
It will be recalled that Libya is currently going through yet another fuel crisis. Petrol and diesel queues have been the norm over the last month. This, despite the government constantly announcing the arrival of tens of millions of litres of fuel at ports across Libya.
The diesel shortage has been exacerbated by the acute electricity cuts and blackouts since the end of June. This has meant that the whole country, civilians and businesses, have turned to their generators to provide electricity. This has spiked the demand and prices of black-market diesel.
The foundation of the fuel crises, since the 2011 revolution, is twofold. On the one hand, it is the ridiculous subsidies of the imported fuels, a legacy of the Qaddafi regime. Secondly, unlike under the Qaddafi dictatorship, the weak Libyan state that cannot combat fuel smuggling. The weak state has left a vacuum for smugglers to operate with virtual impunity.
Analysts believe that until fuel subsidies are removed, fuel smuggling will not stop. Indeed, Libya’s import bill seems to suggest that the more the Libyan state imports of subsidised fuel, the lmore fuel is smuggled.
