The Head of the Energy Committee of the Libyan House of Representatives (HoR), Member of Parliament (MP), Issa Al-Arabi, denounced the remarks of the Tunisian President, Kais Saied, about sharing the Bouri oil field.
The Libyan lawmaker told the Libyan News Agency (LANA) that the committee is considering officially responding to Said’s statements.
Al-Araibi stressed that it is not possible to accept or allow prejudice to the Libyan wealth, under any circumstances or any justification.
The Tunisian President said on Friday that Tunisia was left with “few crumbs” from the Bouri oil field. He called for the field to be shared equally between Libya and Tunisia, stating that it could provide all the needs of Tunisia and more.
The statement of the Tunisian President was met with rejection from the Libyan side.
Moreover, the Libyan Minister of Oil and Gas, Mohamed Aoun, confirmed that the case was previously decided by a ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Aoun explained in a press statement that the ruling was based on a Libyan-Tunisian agreement, and the two parties accepted the ruling, and that the maritime borders between Libya and Tunisia are defined.
The ICJ in the Hague ruled on February 24th, 1982, in the Libyan-Tunisian dispute, in favour of Libya with the entire continental shelf, by a majority of 10 votes against 4 votes.
After Tunisia submitted a request to the ICJ in The Hague to reconsider the ruling with a view to amending it, a ruling was issued on December 10th, 1985 rejecting the lawsuit, and Tunisia accepted the ruling for the second time.
Last month, Saied said that Tunisia is “ready to host, support, and accompany any meeting between the Libyans, under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), and based on the references of international legitimacy.”
During his speech at the meeting of the African Union’s (AU’s) High-level Committee on Libya, Saied stressed Tunisia’s position, calling for “an intra-Libyan solution, within the framework of a comprehensive dialogue away from foreign interference.”
He expressed Tunisia’s “satisfaction with the concrete steps taken towards achieving comprehensive national reconciliation in Libya.” He praised the results of the reconciliation conference meetings held in Tripoli, at the beginning of January.
Last week, the Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced that the production of crude oil amounted to 1,203,000 barrels per day (bpd).