Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) warned on Monday of a “painful wave of closures” after declaring force majeure on exports from the Zueitina oil port.
“Workers of the companies: Zueitina, Mellitah, Sarir and AGOCO on Sunday were forced to completely and gradually shut down production,” NOC said in a statement, referring to its units that export through the Zueitina crude terminal.
The NOC announces the state of force majeure of Zueitina port, and warns of the start of a painful wave of closures at the time of the oil and gas price boom.https://t.co/im8acanV1Ghttps://t.co/pfjMCxI4OG pic.twitter.com/gnmiMjlZri
— National Oil Corporation المؤسسة الوطنية للنفط (@NOC_Libya) April 18, 2022
“These interruptions were caused by the entry of a group of individuals into the port of Zueitina and prevented workers from continuing to start exports, which made it impossible for the NOC to implement its contractual obligations,” NOC said.
It said the closure of facilities would affect electricity output at Zueitina and northern Benghazi power plants and also lead to a shortage of cooking gas supplies in eastern Libya.
“We urge the general Libyan people to form a local public opinion aimed at maintaining the flow of oil to the world markets and taking advantage of the current price boom,” NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla said in the statement.
This comes a day after the state-owned oil company declared force majeure at El Feel oilfield, which was also shut down by another group of individuals.