Mohamed Aoun, the suspended Minister of Oil and Gas in the Libyan Government of National Unity (GNU), denied reports alleging that he is under house arrest in Tripoli by armed militias loyal to Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbaiba.
Aoun confirmed in a telephone interview with “Asharq Al-Awsat” that he is at his home in Tripoli and not subjected to any security surveillance or harassment.
He mentioned that his statements were taken during an investigation conducted by a member of the Administrative Control Authority.
Aoun clarified that his suspension crisis would soon come to an end, but he did not specify an official date.
Last month, Dbaiba assigned Khalifa Abdulsadek, the Deputy Minister of Oil, to carry out the ministry’s duties after the Administrative Control Authority announced the suspension of Aoun. This was due to accusations of “violations” resulting in the infringement of Libya’s rights through the concession of oil privileges to foreign companies.
Last week, Abdulsadek and Finance Minister Khaled Al-Mabrouk engaged in a productive discussion with Geoffrey Pyatt, the Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources at the U.S. Department of State.
“The fruitful meeting centred around efforts to draw US companies to Libya’s vital energy sector,” Pyatt said.
Pyatt highlighted that the discussions revolved around strategies for stabilising global markets, methane reduction, gas retrieval, carbon capture and storage (CCUS), and renewable energy objectives.
Libya has garnered $6 billion in oil revenues in the first quarter of the year and anticipates an average revenue of $25 billion for the entirety of 2024, according to Suhail Boushiha, the Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade. Boushiha shared these insights in an exclusive interview with Sky News Arabia on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington.
The Libyan economy, heavily reliant on oil revenues, recorded LYD 99.1 billion ($20.69 billion) in the previous year, down slightly from LYD 105.4 billion in 2022, as per data from the Central Bank of Libya.
