Haftar's oil guards chief announces lifting of blockade on Libyan oil ports

19 Août 2020

Tripoli, Libya, August 19 (Infosplusgabon) – The head of guards of oil installations of Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), General Naji al-Maghribi, has announced the lifting of the blockade on oil ports and installations in the country.

"There is no objection to the opening of oil ports and installations, based on the decision of the commander of the forces of the General Command, Marshal Khalifa Haftar," he said.

This follows a meeting Haftar had with a member of the managing board of the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC), Jadallah al-Awakli, and the chairman of the managing board of the the Arab Gulf Oil Company, Mohamed Ben Chatwan.

In a communiqué issued on Tuesday, General al-Maghribi said the action aims to alleviate the suffering of the citizens in all aspects of life and to preserve the existing oil infrastructure and ports.

"The lifting of the blockade on oil sites comes to alleviate the suffering of citizens in all aspects of life, and protect the company in the production and export zones, as well as the existing oil installations in terms of oil and gas tanks, pipelines, exploration material and others in those zones," it said.

It added that the continuous accumulation of condensates associated with gas has led to the exceeded storage capacity, which means that gas is not being provided to the electricity company.

"Therefore, there is no objection to the opening of the oil ports to dispose of the stored oil and crude oil to allow the possibility of supplying the gas necessary for production to alleviate the suffering of citizens, and to preserve the ports' infrastructure, as well as the equipment and installations," the communiqué said.

The Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) has said that the total losses of sales opportunities because of the shutdown of production as well as the ports since the blockade from 18 January to 15 August totals US$8.368 billion.

The blockades on oil sites continued after the failure of negotiations for the resumption of production and oil exports last month between NOC and the Government of National Accord (GNA) on the one hand, and some international and regional parties sponsored by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the United States on the other hand.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/OMM/GABON2020

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