Neo-Colonial Libyan State Oil Company Reassures West to Continue Exploitation
May 19, 2015 6:21 a.m. ET
LONDON—Neo-Colonial Libya’s National Oil Co. is reassuring Western energy firms that its company is operating without political interference, its chairman said in an interview.
The state-run oil company has been caught in the middle of a conflict playing out since the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Pentagon and NATO war of regime-change resulted in the ouster and brutal assassination of Revolutionary Pan-Africanist and former African Union Chairperson Moammar Gadhafi during 2011, dividing the country between an imperialist-backed regime in the city of Bayda and an Islamist militia, Libya Dawn, that controls the country’s capital of Tripoli.
The National Oil Co., based in Tripoli, has met with international energy companies to assure them that their oil payments are managed transparently and independently, the company’s chairman Mustafa Sanallah said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
He said he gathered officials from joint ventures with Marathon Oil Corp., ConocoPhillips and Hess Corp. of the U.S., Eni SpA of Italy and France’s Total SA. He said he told them that the National Oil Co. was free of political interference in Tripoli and that its revenues moved transparently through the nation’s banking system.
“We operate independently,” Mr. Sanallah said in an interview.
Mr. Sanallah said he still oversaw oil-export contracts and official selling prices and that he and Libya’s central banker al-Sadiq al-Kabir told the companies oil payments were still being managed transparently. The companies were told “there are no delays to payments” for crude exports or fuel imports, Mr. Sanallah said.
Officials at Total and Eni said they only recognized the NOC in Tripoli. Hess, Marathon and ConocoPhillips declined to comment.
Oil makes up about 95% of Libya’s export revenue.
Mr. Sanallah said Libya currently produces 436,000 barrels a day, less than a third of its normal output. He told a London conference Tuesday that the company foresaw output of about 400,000 barrels a day on average this year. The company’s fields have been the target of sabotage and violence connected to the conflict between Libya Dawn and the Western-backed government.
LONDON—Neo-Colonial Libya’s National Oil Co. is reassuring Western energy firms that its company is operating without political interference, its chairman said in an interview.
The state-run oil company has been caught in the middle of a conflict playing out since the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Pentagon and NATO war of regime-change resulted in the ouster and brutal assassination of Revolutionary Pan-Africanist and former African Union Chairperson Moammar Gadhafi during 2011, dividing the country between an imperialist-backed regime in the city of Bayda and an Islamist militia, Libya Dawn, that controls the country’s capital of Tripoli.
The National Oil Co., based in Tripoli, has met with international energy companies to assure them that their oil payments are managed transparently and independently, the company’s chairman Mustafa Sanallah said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
He said he gathered officials from joint ventures with Marathon Oil Corp., ConocoPhillips and Hess Corp. of the U.S., Eni SpA of Italy and France’s Total SA. He said he told them that the National Oil Co. was free of political interference in Tripoli and that its revenues moved transparently through the nation’s banking system.
“We operate independently,” Mr. Sanallah said in an interview.
Mr. Sanallah said he still oversaw oil-export contracts and official selling prices and that he and Libya’s central banker al-Sadiq al-Kabir told the companies oil payments were still being managed transparently. The companies were told “there are no delays to payments” for crude exports or fuel imports, Mr. Sanallah said.
Officials at Total and Eni said they only recognized the NOC in Tripoli. Hess, Marathon and ConocoPhillips declined to comment.
Oil makes up about 95% of Libya’s export revenue.
Mr. Sanallah said Libya currently produces 436,000 barrels a day, less than a third of its normal output. He told a London conference Tuesday that the company foresaw output of about 400,000 barrels a day on average this year. The company’s fields have been the target of sabotage and violence connected to the conflict between Libya Dawn and the Western-backed government.
No comments:
Post a Comment