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Additionally, it hopes to start up new production country until elections can be held in December
sites in Ghadmis, a basin in the western part of 2021. The company “stands ready to work with
the country, and Sirte, a basin in central Libya, the new government, while also keeping out of
within the next few months. politics,” he told Bloomberg. “It’s very important
The company will only be able to achieve to keep the NOC apolitical. It’s not a political
these operational gains if two conditions can be chip for anyone.”
met, he added. Unless Libya remains at peace Sanalla has effectively helmed Libya’s oil
and NOC secures enough budget funding to industry for the last several years because the
repair infrastructure facilities that were dam- country has had no oil minister. However, busi-
aged last year during fighting between factions, nessman Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah,
production is not likely to reach target levels, he who is slated to serve as prime minister under
commented. the new unity government, has indicated that he
He also stressed that NOC was determined wants to appoint someone to fill this position.
to remain politically neutral as the parties to the As of press time, it was not clear whether
ceasefire that has remained in place since Octo- Dbeibah had named any potential candidates
ber 2020 set up a unity government to run the yet. ™

Sudanese officials say security problems

disrupted crude oil production in 2020

SUDAN HAMID Suleiman, the undersecretary of
Sudan’s Energy and Mining Ministry, said
last week that the country’s oil industry had
sustained more than $3mn in losses last year
because of disruption and downtime related to
security threats of all kinds.
Speaking at a ministry workshop held in
Khartoum, Suleiman said that Sudan’s crude oil
output levels had suffered last year because of
such challenges. Dealing with security threats
often entails production stoppages and “wasted
time” when workers return to job sites, he
explained.
Sadig Jaber, the head of the oil production
growth monitoring chamber at the national
oil company (NOC) Sudapet, offered further
details about the security challenges the indus-
try had experienced in 2020.
He reported that Sudapet had lost time and
money last year as a result of small-scale inci-
dents such as severed cables and theft, as well as
more serious incidents such as looting, threats,
disruptions to the movement of workers and
“legitimate protests which sometimes stop work
for several days.”
Suleiman, for his part, indicated that the
ministry hoped to avoid similar problems in Security challenges cost Sudapet $3mn in 2020 (Photo: Sudapet)
2021 and urged all parties involved in oil extrac-
tion to “work in a spirit of partnership” so that government take a harder line on incidents
output targets could be reached. Joint efforts are that caused oil output levels to fall, saying that
crucial, as “oil security is linked to the national Khartoum should consider measures such as
security of the country,” he remarked. intervening immediately or declaring a state
Jaber and Suleiman, along with the other of emergency in response to disruptions in
attendees, all stressed the need to maintain sta- development operations. Others suggested
bility and security in Sudan’s crude-producing administrative measures such as establishing
regions, pointing out that the oil industry was an oversight role for the government or estab-
a crucial component of the national economy. lishing special courts and prosecutors to handle
Some of those present recommended that the incidents at oilfields. ™

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