The Libyan state oil company announced this Sunday the imposition of a state of force majeure at the Zawiya refinery, located west of the capital, Tripoli, due to the fighting recorded during the last areas between armed groups, without for now there are details about those involved or a balance of victims.
The National Petroleum Corporation (NOC) has indicated in a statement that “several tanks at the refinery have suffered serious damage” early on Sunday, which has caused “serious fires” at the facilities. “Thank God, the security personnel managed to control the fires and the leaks in gas lines and limit its spread,” he stressed.
However, he highlighted that the fighting is still active in the area and has specified that the opposing parties They are using “light and medium weapons”which is why it has warned that the situation “exposes the lives of workers and residents of the area to dangers whose damage cannot be foreseen.”
The NOC has also stated that its Board of Directors remains in “permanent session” to monitor events and “adopt the necessary decisions and measures”with the objective of “limiting as much as possible the risks that may threaten the life and property” of the population.
“The NOC Board of Directors asks the relevant institutions and parties to assume their responsibilities and work as soon as possible to stop these combats and leave oil facilities out of the conflict current situation, whatever its causes and reasons,” he noted.
Finally, it has requested the internationally recognized governmentbased in Tripoli, which “intervene to resolve these confrontations and eliminate the differences, whatever they may be, due to the great danger they pose to the lives of civilians if the refinery tanks continue to be exposed to similar damage, given that they contain easily flammable materials.
Libya’s oil facilities have in the past been the scene of power struggles between various armed factions affiliated with the existing parallel administrations in the African country. Oil is Libya’s main source of incomeso the suspension of jobs and exports has a great impact on its poorly diversified economy.
The country was plunged into serious crisis due to the armed uprising 2011 following the repression of pro-democracy protests within the framework of the ‘Arab Spring’. The conflict concluded with the capture and execution of the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in October of that year, which led to the opening of a fragile transition, damaged by power struggles in the new stage.
At the moment, Libya is divided into two administrations after the House of Representatives, based in the east of the country, terminated the mandate of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibé due to the postponement of the presidential elections in December 2021 and appointed the suspended Fazi Bashaga to the position in office and replaced by Osama Hamad.
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