Libya’s NOC Chief: If war on Tripoli persists, oil production could drop by 90%

Chairman of NOC Mustafa Sanalla. [Photo: Internet]
Libyan oil production currently stands at almost 1.3mn b/d, but ongoing regional hostilities could put the majority of this output at risk, Chairman of NOC Mustafa Sanalla said Saturday. 

“Unfortunately if the [political] situation will continue like this, I’m afraid that maybe 95pc of production will be lost”, Sanalla said in Jeddah today.

Sanalla is attending the next meeting of the Opec, non-Opec Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which oversees compliance with the ongoing production cuts.

Sanalla expressed concern over Libya’s oil industry succumbing to the armed clashes that have fractured Libya since early April, when the forces led by Khalifa Haftar set for Tripoli against the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).

“The war is bad. It is creating a vacuum in the county. [Because of] this vacuum, someone will step in. Either [Islamist group] Isis or either any mercenary group,” Sanalla said.

He added that the war should be stopped, in order to keep production running.

“Production really has been important to the energy [sector], to the area, to the Mediterranean, you know, this is to stabilise the energy market.” Sanalla remarked.

He added that the aim is to attract the investment to come to the country.

“This chaos is, you know, like you fire the investor,” Sanalla said.

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