A fresh wave of protests at key Libyan oilfields and ports threatens to derail months of stability in the Opec member’s production and exports.
Demonstrators have interrupted the loading of an oil tanker and taken over the control room at the country’s biggest crude port, Es Sider, according to three people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to media.
Protesters calling for the dismissal of Mustafa Sanalla, state-run National Oil Corp.’s (NOC) chief, have prevented the Suezmax tanker Yannis P. from loading at the eastern port that processes 300,000 barrels of crude a day, the people said.
Officials at the NOC were not immediately available to comment. For much of the past decade, there have been frequent protests at Libya’s main oil fields, with groups using blockades of facilities to press for political or economic demands. The recent protests—along with a power struggle between Sanalla and oil minister Mohamed Oun—have further jeopardized the country’s output.
Although Libya has Africa’s largest crude reserves, production has been erratic since the overthrow of former leader Moammar Qaddafi in 2011. A truce last year in the country’s long-running civil war, combined with the formation of a unity government, has helped to stabilize production in recent months at almost 1.2 million barrels a day.
New wave of protests
Protesters said over the weekend that they will halt exports at the eastern oil ports of Zueitina, Brega, Ras Lanuf, and Es Sider. Another group of demonstrators has threatened to stop production at oilfields in the southeast, including at Nafoora.
Separate demonstrations by students and fresh graduates demanding jobs have also erupted at the key Hariga port, which exports about 250,000 barrels a day of Sarir and Mesla crude. The Suezmax tanker Mikela P. is due to reach Hariga is due to arrive at the port on September 9, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Tensions between Oun and Sanalla erupted recently after the oil minister asked the government to dismiss the NOC chief and reshuffle the company’s board. The jostling follows a decade of conflict and tension between rival governments that eased after the formation of a unity authority.
Oun was appointed in March, making him the country’s first oil minister since 2014. Sanalla, meanwhile, has been the NOC’s boss since 2014 — holding a job that allowed him to effectively run the energy sector, including representing Libya meetings between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. Bloomberg News