Libya’s oil production is under threat from renewed fighting between warring armed groups and the situation could become as bad as it was during the 2011 civil war, the National Oil Corporation’s chairman, Mustafa Sanalla, told the Financial Times in an interview.
“I am afraid the situation could be
much worse than 2011 because of the size of forces now involved,” Sanalla told
the FT, adding “Unless the problem is solved very quickly, I am afraid this
will affect our operations, and soon we will not be able to produce oil or
gas.”
The flare-up of inter-group
violence took many by surprise as it came after comments from the commander of
the Libyan National Army, General Khalifa Haftar that soon Libya will have a
single government. The LNA is affiliated with the eastern government that the
UN has not recognized but some took the comments to mean negotiations are on
the table.
Instead of negotiations, the LNA
advanced on Tripoli. Since then, fighting has been intensifying with no end of
the violence in sight.
Sanalla called on the international
community to step in and put an end to the violence but options are limited
amid the deep division between warring factions, all of which are seeking
control over the country’s oil.
“The oil production must remain
uninterrupted. If we lost 1.2m barrels a day of production at this time you
cannot imagine what the global price would do,” Sanalla said in the interview.
Libya depends on its oil and gas exports for more than 95 percent of its exports
and the consequences of the conflict spreading to oil and gas fields will in
all likelihood be disastrous for an economy still reeling from the fallout of a
bloody civil war.
The EU, which recognizes the
Government of National Accord based in Tripoli, yesterday issued an official
statement urging the sides in the conflict to stop the violence. Their heeding
the call remains doubtful.