Page 6 - AfrOil Week 04 2021

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

The pipeline to Es-Sider is once again operating at full capacity (Image: EIA)

Libya prepares to restart pipeline

to Es Sider amidst labour dispute

LIBYA LIBYA’S National Oil Corp. (NOC) has been consequences of prolonged civil conflict, which
working this week to resume regular shipments has disrupted efforts to maintain and repair pro-
of crude oil from fields in the Sirte basin to the duction platforms, pipelines, refineries, storage
coastal terminal of Es Sider, but an ongoing tanks and other facilities, he said during a con-
labour dispute has complicated its efforts. ference hosted by the Atlantic Council on Jan-
According to previous reports, Waha Oil Co. uary 21.
(WOC), one of NOC’s subsidiaries, discovered a “This [pipeline leak] gives you an indication
leak in the pipeline leading to Es Sider last week. that the infrastructure in Libya is really in bad
It responded by suspending shipments through shape,” Sanalla was quoted as saying by Bloomb-
the link so that it could start repairs, and as a erg. “We are now discussing with our partners
consequence Libyan oil production dropped how to finance and how they can help us. If
from about 1.25mn barrels per day to a little the government can’t give the NOC the right
more than 1mn bpd. budget, maybe we can take the budget from our
Initially, WOC said it expected to wrap up the partners.”
repair work in about two weeks. But on January
23, the NOC subsidiary said in a press release Loadings suspended
that it had completed the job. Then on January Meanwhile, loadings at Es Sider and two other
24, a source with knowledge of the matter told Libyan terminals were suspended on January
Bloomberg that the pipe was already back on 24, amidst a labour dispute involving salary pay-
service and pumping 98,000 bpd of oil as of the ments to the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG),
previous day. He also said that throughput was a paramilitary force responsible for protecting
set to rise to 200,000 bpd within the next two the country’s oil export facilities.
days. According to press reports, PFG members
Bloomberg then reported on January 26 that ordered workers at Es Sider, Marsa el-Hariga
the pipeline had reached full capacity, bringing and Ras Lanuf to stop loading oil onto tank-
Libyan oil output back up to 1.25mn bpd. Ali ers. They said they had done so because Libyan
el-Farsi, a spokesman for WOC, told the new authorities had failed to meet their deadline for
agency that his company’s fields were now pro- the payment of several months’ worth of over-
ducing 300,000 bpd again. due wages.
Libya’s Ministry of Finance has already
In need of repair begun talks with the PFG in the hope of resolv-
These reports emerged just a few days after ing the matter, a source told S&P Global Platts
Mustafa Sanalla, NOC’s chairman, asserted on the evening of January 24. The UN, which has
that the problems with the link served to been working to support efforts to form a unity
demonstrate the poor condition of many infra- government in Libya, is likely to play a role in
structure facilities in Libya’s oil sector. NOC is these discussions, the source said.
hoping to work with the international oil com- As of press time, the talks were still in pro-
panies (IOCs) active in Libya to address the gress. ™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 27•January•2021