Libya’s ‘New’ NOC Chair Vows Oil Will Flow Within A Week

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Commodity

Oil

Writer

IPG Staff2

Oil · 18 July, 2022

Libya’s ‘New’ NOC Chair Vows Oil Will Flow Within A Week

After an armed takeover of Libya’s National Oil Company (NOC) on Thursday, newly appointed chairman Farhat Bengdara has told media that he is in full control and that force majeure could be lifted on Libya’s oil exports within a week.

Commodity

Oil

Writer

IPG Staff2

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In an interview with Bloomberg, Bengdara said he would
double Libya’s crude oil production to 1.2 million bpd. He also reiterated

assurances to foreign partners that all existing contracts would be honored.

 

Serious doubts remain as to Bengdara’s control,
however, as long-time NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla has refused to step down in

the face of a takeover decree from the Government of National Unity (GNU), led

by interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, whose own mandate’s legitimacy

is questioned.

 

In an address to the public on Thursday, a defiant
Sanalla, who has run the politically independent NOC for eight years, refused

to accept the takeover, calling Dbeibah’s government “illegitimate” as his

mandate technically expired when he failed to hold elections in December 2021.

 

In a telephone interview with Reuters later on
Thursday, Sanalla said he was in Tripoli attempting to defuse the situation and

calling for international pressure to avoid what would inevitably lead to the

creation of two parallel NOCs in a country already suffering a dangerous

deadlock with parallel governments vying for control of the nation’s oil

resources.

 

On Friday, Dbeibah filed a complaint with the Attorney

General against Sanalla, saying that he “deliberately appeared in the media and

made blatant and irresponsible statements against the Prime Minister and some

other officials, refusing to implement the cabinet’s decision and hampered the

work of the hand-over committee”.

 Sanalla has also filed a complaint demanding the
takeover decree be revoked and accusing the Dbeibah government of acting to

appease the UAE.


In the meantime, the NOC’s website and social media
accounts have not published any updates since Thursday, further questioning who

is in control.


By Charles Kennedy / Jul 15, 2022, 2:30 PM