Libya’s NOC declares force majeure on Brega oil exports

By Moataz Wanis

TRIPOLI, Libya (AA) – Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Tuesday declared force majeure on oil exports from the Brega oilfield, 600 km east of the capital Tripoli.

We declare “a state of force majeure on the oil port of Brega because it is impossible to implement its commitments towards the oil market,” NOC said in a statement.

The closure of the oilfield is the fourth in two days after similar shutdowns in El-Feel, El-Sharara oilfields and Zuwetina oil port after a group of people stormed the facilities and prevented employees from working. The oil company, however, did not identify this group of people.

NOC warned against the impact of subjecting the Libyan crude “to a wave of illegal closures”, noting it will “have serious damage to wells, reservoirs and surface equipment for the oil sector, as well as the loss of state treasury amid prices that may not be repeated for decades to come.”

It said Libyans have the right to benefit from their oilfields as “oil prices are recovering significantly due to increased global demand, which is being exploited by all producing countries to increase their oil revenues.”

Declaring force majeure allows the company to exonerate itself from legal responsibility regarding its commitments to clients.

Last week, tribal leaders in southern Libya announced they were halting oil production in southern and central Libya until Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh hands over power to the newly appointed government of Fathi Bashagha.

Libya has the ninth-largest known oil reserves in the world and the biggest oil reserves in Africa.

Tension has mounted in the country since parliament last month gave confidence to a new government headed by Bashagha, a former interior minister, while Dbeibeh insists on remaining at his post.

* Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara