Libyan Minister of Oil, Mohamed Aoun said that the suspension of oil exports has resulted in daily losses ranging between $50-60 million dollars.
Aoun stressed that this affects the national budget and state’s reserves, which in turn affects the country’s overall income and various operations.
He pointed out that the losses have not been fully accounted yet, “because it is not related to the suspension of exports only, but also to technical malfunctions resulting from the length of the closure.”
Aoun stated that the closures will have severe consequences, and affect the supply of gas to various power plants, and cooking gas.
He stressed that a special committee is in “constant contact with all social components in the closed areas, but it seems that the matter is not in the hands of the sheikhs and notables.”
Notably, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) has stopped all developmental and exploratory drilling operations at all fields and ports.
The NOC’s Chairman, Mustafa Sanalla said the halt is due to the “delay in liquidating the approved budget for the year 2022.” He stressed the need to stop all well-maintenance operations, and all major development projects, to avoid arranging any new financial commitments.
Sanalla warned that the failure to liquidate the approved budget led to an increase in the financial obligations of the NOC, and its subsidiaries.
The US Embassy in Libya announced its full support for the temporary freezing of oil revenues in the Libyan Foreign Bank (LFB), until a revenue management mechanism was created.
“Restoring Libyan oil production is important for the Libyan people, and the global economy. Agreement on a mechanism for transparent management of oil revenues is imperative in order to achieve this, as discussed by Libyan parties in the 1 April meeting of the Berlin Process Economic Working Group,” the Embassy said in a statement on Saturday.
It stressed the need for “the mechanism to include agreement on priority expenditures, as well as transparency measures, and steps to ensure oversight and accountability.”