Libyan state oil firm cuts back fuel supplies to east
CAIRO: Libya’s state oil firm has restricted kerosene supplies to areas controlled by eastern commander Khalifa Haftar in what diplomats and oil officials said was an attempt to prevent his troops using them in their five-month-old battle to take the capital. The company said it took no side in the conflict and there was more than enough fuel in the east for civilian purposes.
The reduction in volumes sent east in August was a reversal by state oil firm NOC, which works with internationally-backed authorities based in the capital Tripoli and also has to cooperate with Haftar’s forces as they control major oilfields.
The NOC views itself as outside the almost decade-long struggle for control of the country and NOC data for the previous three months showed it had sharply increased supplies of kerosene to the east in response to demand.
“NOC has stopped all additional fuel supplies until such time that assurances can be met that fuel is only being used for domestic and civilian aviation purposes, and reflects real consumption,” the NOC said in a statement alongside the data, which it sent to Reuters in response to a request.
“Jet fuel stocks in the east are more than adequate to cover demand for civilian flights. NOC takes no side nor part in the conflict in Libya and it rejects any attempt to portray it as doing so,” it said in a later statement.
The NOC data showed that kerosene supplies to airport warehouses in central and eastern areas which an NOC official said were controlled by the LNA fell to around 5.25 million litres in August.
The monthly figure had risen to between 7.3 million litres and 8.8 million litres in the previous three months, more than double the amounts recorded for January and February.
Two oil officials said on condition of anonymity that the NOC was concerned shipments were being used by the LNA in the Tripoli war. Two diplomats also said that was the reason for the reduction.
The figures do not distinguish between kerosene used for domestic heating and industrial purposes and that used for jet fuel but the statement said demand for the latter had gone up.
“Jet fuel demand has increased in the eastern part of the country despite the number of civilian flights remaining unchanged,” the NOC statement said.
Haftar’s Libya National Army (LNA) force has been unable to breach Tripoli’s southern defences since it began its campaign in April, but the conflict has killed more than 100 civilians, displaced more than 120,000, and shows no signs of ending.
Two oil officials said on condition of anonymity that the NOC was concerned shipments were being used by the LNA in the Tripoli war