By Moutaz Ali.
Tripoli, 21 September 2016:
As National Oil Corporation chief Mustafa Sanalla came away from a Presidency Council meeting today with a promise of more government money to restore the country’s battered and poorly-maintained oil and gas infrastructure, the first tanker in over two years pulled out from Ras Lanuf with a cargo of 730,000 barrels bound for Italy.
Until now, Sanalla has been outspoken over the failure of the PC to deliver up to a billion dinars for essential work on oil and gas facilities. But today after meeting the PC’s Ahmed Maetig and Musa Koni, he said that NOC had already received LD 310 million and more cash was to follow.
Since Qaddafi’s rule, the NOC has never been paid its oil earning directly but has been entirely dependent on disbursements from governments which receives the hydrocarbon income in a Central Bank account. Since February Sanalla has been pushing for the payment system to be changed while also pressing the PC, first in Tunis and then in Tripoli to come up with the emergency funding.
After his meeting today with Maetig and Koni Sanalla said “This is certainly not enough, but it is a step in the right direction”. He added that he had been assured that the NOC will receive a further LD 620 million in two equal tranches.
Yesterday Sanalla flew to Tobruk where he met executives of the Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) and announced that the Hariga export terminal’s capacity would be boosted to 200,000 bpd. At present it can handle some 51,000 bpd, largely from AGOCO’s Sarir oil field.
The departure of the Maltese-flagged Seadelta from Ras Lanuf marked the end of the blockade mounted by Ibrahim Jadhran’s Petroleum Facilities Guard from whom the army took the Ras Lanuf, Sidra and Zuetina terminals ten days ago. Two other tankers are now hard by Ras Lanuf preparing to load. On Monday, a tanker left Brega, which was never completely under the control of the PFG, with a 600,000 barrel cargo for Italy.
