LIBYA: Closure of Pumping Valves at Al-Sharara and Al-Feel fields Puts Offline 330,000 barrels per day

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NOC Mustafa Sanalla has said that the illegal shut down the pumping valves of crude thus at the Al-Sharara and Al-Feel fields making it impossible to fulfil our commitments regarding refined products in the oil market has led to the state corporation declaring the state of force majeure in line with standard practice in the oil industry.

According to Mustafa Sanalla this closure has denied the people of Libya the benefits accruing from the high global oil prices with a similar situation having been witnessed in 2014 during a similar price boom.

“Who benefits from these closures which come after the price jump that exceeded $100 per barrel? Suspicious links and indications strongly suggest that the closures are driven by hidden hands aiming to drag the country into chaos. A communication has been submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office to take deterrent and targeted measures to identify the planners, executors and beneficiaries behind this criminal act of theft and sabotage”.

In a related context Sanalla said: “The challenge of closing was not the most difficult or dangerous for the stability of the oil sector and will end, God willing. But it is all the most painful for Libyans that the parties to sedition hampered production at the time of a global price boom. The next steps must be firm and governed by the criminal legal standard and must be criminally prosecuted by the public prosecutor”.

In conclusion, the Chairman said Libya’s oil sector’s infrastructure continues to be subjected to illegal attacks, including the disruption of production lines and the destruction of surface equipment despite the grave economic challenges faced by the country compounded by the interruption of the sector’s access to budgets.