NOC declares force majeure on Al-Hariga oil port

According to a statement issued by the NOC, the force majeure is due to the refusal of the Central Bank of Libya to liquidate the oil sector budget for months on end, which has exacerbated the indebtedness of some companies, primarily Arabian Gulf Oil, which has lost the capacity to meet its financial and technical obligations and forced it to reduce the country’s crude oil production by about 280,000 barrels per day.

The statement added: “While the National Oil Corporation understands the reasons for the extra-voluntary suspension of the company and seeks an excuse for the Government of National Unity for the delay in the adoption of the 2021 budget, it places full legal responsibility on the Central Bank of Libya, which refused to liquidate the financial arrangements approved in accordance with the previous Government of National Accord Decision No. 871 of 30 November 2020, estimated at 1.048 billion dinars, and is responsible for the disbursement of oil revenues.

The NOC strongly denounced the Central Bank’s withholding of the financial arrangements necessary for the continuation of its operations, noting that it did not support any action that would be detrimental to the country’s higher national interest.

The Oil Corporation stressed that what was happening could lead to the loss of the State’s economic balance and return to square one, with closures and low revenues, and stated that what the Central Bank was doing is undermining the extraordinary efforts of oil workers to restore production to its former levels for purposes that are not in the interest of the national economy.