Tripoli: Oil and Gas prices may be booming across the globe, but Libya, despite an abundance of oil, is not benefitting the country’s oil sector, the main driver of the country’s economy, has once again been hampered by the political division and instability that continues to plague the country. On April 18, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced a state of force majeure – meaning that it was declaring itself unable to fulfil contracts, and warned of a “painful wave of closures”, after forces in eastern Libya prevented staff at the Zueitina oil terminal from entering the building. That was followed by another suspension of operations at the Brega terminal the following day. The Zueitina oil terminal alone accounts for almost a quarter of the 1.2 million barrels of oil Libya produces per day.
The incident at Zueitina, and the ensuing shutdown of such an important element of the economy, reflects the difficult and precarious situation Libya finds itself in, as two rival administrations vie for the right to govern the country.
Libya’s parliament, the House of Representatives, claims that the term of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the prime minister of the UN-recognised Government of National Unity, has ended, and that the man they have sworn in, Fathi Bashagha, should now be prime minister.
“The closure of the oil terminals and ports is an attempt by [military commander Khalifa] Haftar and his allies to force through the House of Representatives’ roadmap, and more specifically, to topple the Government of National Unity in Tripoli and impose their parallel government led by Fathi Bashagha,” said Yousef Bakhbakhi, a Tripoli-based academic and political analyst, referring to Haftar, the head of the Libyan National Army militia, and the most prominent military player in the east of Libya. –Agencies
