Page 14 - AfrOil Week 21 2020

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil
LNA attacks have blocked the flow of oil to the Az-Zawiya refinery (Photo: Az-Zawiya Oil Refining Company)
Officials in Tripoli criticise ongoing blockade of Libyan oil infrastructure
LIBYA
WITHIN the last week, two high-ranking offi- cials in Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) have criticised the Libyan National Army (LNA), a breakaway group under the con- trol of Khalifa Haftar, for its ongoing blockade of the country’s oil infrastructure.
The first to speak was Col. Mohammad Qanunu, a spokesman for the Libyan military forces that remain loyal to the GNA. He called for an end to the blockade, which has brought oil output down from nearly 1mn barrels per day as of mid-January to less than 100,000 bpd as of late April. “It is now time for Libyan oil to flow once more,” Qanunu declared on May 20.
He also declared that the GNA remained willing to fight the LNA to regain control of Libya’s western regions. “[We] will strike hard at those who tampered with Libyan’s sustenance,” he said.
The LNA has been in control of the country’s southern and eastern regions for some time. Earlier this year, it launched a series of offensives with the aim of gaining power over the western regions and Tripoli. These actions allowed it to impede the flow of crude from multiple fields to facilities such as the Zawiya refinery and export terminals on the Mediterranean coast, thereby crippling the national oil industry.
In recent weeks, though, the GNA’s forces have recently been able to push Haftar’s troops back. Their successes stem partly from an infu- sion of help from Turkey, which is a prominent backer of the Tripoli-based GNA.
Qanunu spoke one day before the GNA’s
Defence Ministry asserted that the LNA’s inter- ference with oil infrastructure facilities had been a criminal act that would be “regarded [as] economic crimes by the Libyan law and a war crime by the international humanitarian law.” The ministry said in a statement that it would seek to deter further acts of sabotage and was working to identify the persons responsible for previous attacks.
Slow restart
Despite its recent advances, the GNA is not likely to achieve a complete triumph over Haftar, who still controls a large share of territory inside Libya’s internationally recognised border. As such, it may not be able to restart crude produc- tion in the country’s western regions any time soon. (Two of Libya’s largest oilfields, Sharara and El-Feel, lie in the south-west in the Murzuq Basin.)
Bill Farren-Price, a director at the Canadian consultancy RS Energy Group, told Bloomberg on May 21 that development operations were likely to remain on hold unless the GNA was willing to negotiate an agreement that allowed the LNA to collect a larger share of oil revenues.
“There may be attempts to restart south-western oilfields but sustained produc- tion is something else,” he said. “The bulk of Libya’s oil production is likely to continue to be disrupted until there are signs that the politi- cal process is moving again. That will probably require better international engagement, which isabsentrightnow.”™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 21 27•May•2020