Chair of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) has announced force majeure after members of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) in the Western region shut down crude oil pumping from Sharara, Wafa, and Hamada oilfields.
“NOC regrets what happened to individuals and parties outside the legal framework of shutting down the crude pumping from the Sharara, El Feel, Al Wafa and Hamada fields, in a new chapter in the series of closures that occur whenever oil prices improve,” NOC said in a statement on Monday.
In this regard, Mustafa Sanalla, NOC Chairman, 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)”.
He 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, according to NOC statement.
“Rather, it extends to the loss of quantities of gas from the Al-Wafa field in its reservoir and its migration to neighboring countries that have reservoir contact, which is impossible to recover,” it added.
This affects the country’s gas reserves in because it is adjacent to the Libyan-Algerian borders, in addition, “within days we are forced to stop the Al-Zawiya refinery, which feeds the western region to the bottom of the mountain with fuel.”
It is noteworthy that the General Electricity Company announced earlier today, Monday, “the gas supply to the power plants has stopped, 2500 megawatts are lost, and it is difficult to provide electricity, and the affected stations are Al-Ruwais, Al-Zawiya, Al-Khums and part of the Misurata station, and it will be difficult for us to provide energy.”
“While the NOC informs the general public about this unfortunate matter, it reports that it will inform the Public Prosecution, which 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,” the statement said.