Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) has condemned in the strongest terms a recent incident in which an armed group broke into the country's largest Sharara oilfield and ordered the employees to shut down production
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th June, 2020) Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) has condemned in the strongest terms a recent incident in which an armed group broke into the country's largest Sharara oilfield and ordered the employees to shut down production.
"National Oil Corporation (NOC)'s board of directors strongly condemns the crime committed by an armed group on the evening of Monday, June 8, 2020. The armed group, which came from Sebha, stormed the Sharara oilfield and pulled their guns on civilian unarmed workers, coercing them to stop production at the field at dawn on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, only three days after production was resumed. NOC confirms the shutdown of production and declares force majeure on the Sharara field crude oil exports," the company said in an official statement.
According to NOC, the attack "might cost the Libyan state and its partners time, money and efforts, and make it impossible to resume oil production at the previous level."
The intrusion was led by so-called Brigadier General Mohamed Khalifa, commander of the so-called Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) in the South, the company said, calling it "a serious crime that amounts to treachery against the Libyan people and the national economy."
The NOC has already informed the general prosecutor's office on the matter, the company said, noting that it would take necessary measures to bring those responsible to justice and would pursue them at the local and international levels.
The company said that it totally rejects any military presence within its facilities, and added that the shutdown of petroleum production would "cost the treasury further losses and will lead to new technical damages."
The incident comes days after the oilfield resumed operations following a four-month suspension. In January, Sharara halted all operations after Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Libyan National Army, ordered the blocking of Libya's ports that were being used for oil exports.
Following the resumption, the field experienced major technical problems. According to the corporation, specialists from the Libyan Acacus oil company were summoned for help.
