Libyan MP, Ali Al-Takbali said he supports the call of fellow MP, Souad Abdallah for the demarcation of the borders with Algeria. This follows reports that Algeria had annexed several kilometers of the oil and gas-rich village of Essien, near Ghat, in southern Libya.
He claimed that Algeria had, and still has expansionist goals to annex the oil-rich city of Ghat. “Algeria has been doing this since the Gaddafi era,” the Libyan lawmaker added.
Al-Tekbali affirmed that smart field technologies will put an end to the ambitions of neighbouring countries in Libya’s oil and gas. “The technology will speed up the process of exploring oil wells and gas fields on the common border areas,” he explained.
He urged Libya’s state-owned corporation, the National Oil Corporation (NOC), to establish smart technology inside all fields, in order to develop the exploration process.
Last month, Abdullah called on the executive authority in Libya to demarcate the borders between Libya and Algeria.
In a press statement, she said that the demarcation of the borders “is important after rumours about the penetration of the border area in the far southwest of Libya from the Algerian side, at the village of Essin near Ghat.”
On the sidelines of her visit, as part of a delegation of MP’s to the Libyan south, she confirmed that the demarcation of the Libyan borders with neighbouring countries “has become necessary to avoid any problems and remove all ambiguity.”
In December, Libya’s Parliament- designate Prime Minister, Fathi Bashagha called on Egypt, Turkey, and Greece not to take unilateral decisions regarding demarcating the maritime borders with Libya.
Bashagha said in a statement that the critical and exceptional circumstances that Libya is going through were resulting from a complex international and regional conflict. “That conflict has been reflected in the Libyan internal situation,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that we see some countries taking advantage of the situation in Libya…to serve their interests without taking into account Libyan interests,” he said.
Bashagha stressed that the demarcation of the maritime borders at this time “would increase tensions, and exacerbate the situation in the Mediterranean region.”
