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By Jamal Adel.
Kufra, 24 November 2014:
Demonstrators at Abu Tifl, near Jalu, today called off their blockade of the oilfield and . . .[restrict]released a plane which for the past two weeks they would now allow to fly to Tobruk.
Since early October the demonstrators have prevented the oilfield restarting production, demanding they be given jobs there.
Today’s move follows negotiations with the NOC and elders as well as the decision by protestors at the nearby Nafoura field, also seeking jobs, to end their campaign.
It had originally been reported that the National Oil Corporation (NOC) would not negotiate with the Abu Tifl protestors on the basis that it was not the employer at Abu Tifl, that Italian energy giant Eni was, and that it did not get involved in disputes about employment.
“The protest was called off today,” a leading protestor at Abu Tifl told the Libya Herald. “The delegates took our names and said that they would sort it out and give us jobs. So we also let the plane leave,” he explained.
“We are now waiting for the response from the NOC.”
Although, the small airfield at Abu Tifl is reported to be functioning normally, as are the oilfield’s administrative offices, the plane was
prevented from flying to Tobruk some two weeks ago. Abu Tifl itself, which in 2011 had an average production of 70,000 b/d, had been shut down since Ibrahim Jadhran’s closure of oil terminals in eastern Libya. [/restrict]
