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By George Grant.
Tripoli, 16 December:
Negotiations to put an end to a major protest at the Akakus-Repsol oil field in Obari are . . .[restrict]being stepped-up, with a delegation of protesters due to arrive in Tripoli in the next few days.
Production at the Sharara field has been badly affected since a group of demonstrators began picketing the site around 4 December. The site has subsequently been occupied, with protesters claiming to have shut off production entirely, although this has been denied by Akakus officials in Tripoli.
”No one seems to know exactly what is going down there”, said an Akakus source on condition of anonymity. ”The demonstration is still on and part of our production has been stopped. It is not clear quite how much yet”.
Asked how negotiations with the demonstrators were going, the source said that ”no solution had been reached yet. Their demands keep changing”. He expressed his surprise that ”no attention was really being paid to the issue. No one high up in the government seems to be paying the issue much attention.”
The demonstrators are predominantly Tebu, and are complaining over the lack of opportunities provided for local people at the oil field.
“We want job opportunities and development opportunities”, Mohammed Lafi, one of the protest organisers, told the Libya Herald.
“Almost all the employees here come from Tripoli and the coastal areas, because the job office is in Tripoli.”
Lafi said that a delegation of six GNC members had been to visit the site in the past few days and that a delegation of protesters had been invited to Tripoli to discuss their concerns.
“We will come on Sunday or Monday, if we can get a plane”, Lafi said. The delegation will be meeting with representatives from the oil field’s management staff.
The Sharara field is a joint venture between the National Oil Corporation’s Akakus company, which owns 51 per cent, and the Spanish oil company Repsol, which owns 49 per cent. [/restrict]
