Minister of Oil and Gas in the Government of National Unity, Mohamed Aoun, expressed his concern about renewed calls to halt oil production in the country in a media statement on Wednesday. He emphasized that the Libyan people will be the first to suffer from this halt compared to any other party, whether in terms of losing oil importers or the direct impact on gas supply to power stations, which means that the situation will be dire.
Aoun explained that the negative impact of the halt will not be insignificant, considering that Libya is currently producing a large quantity of 1.2 million barrels per day, of which about 150-160 thousand barrels are refined domestically. Therefore, the damage inflicted on Libyan income will be greater than that on the importers from the international community, as when crude oil stops, gas production will also cease, which will affect power plants.
During his statement, Mohamed Aoun noted that the General Electricity Company has recently managed to improve the working conditions of the network, and there have been no power outages in recent months, unlike in the past years. However, the repeated threat to halt oil production puts us at the risk of permanently losing importers due to their concerns about supply instability and the inability to fulfill contracts and agreements, as well as the possibility of resorting to the use of force. This forces our partners to search for alternatives outside of Libya, despite the ongoing global energy crisis resulting from the conflict in Ukraine.
The Minister of Oil called for attention to the fact that repeating such threats to halt strategic commodities like oil and gas, which constitute the main source of income for the country, worries importers even if they are friendly countries. Anyone who hears such talk that the country may not fulfill its commitments within months will affect their decisions. It is a purely economic process, and of course, countries participating with us in production, such as Italy, France, and others, will be affected by this halt and find it troublesome.
In the same context, Aoun pointed out that the process of halting production and then reopening it, along with the subsequent maintenance operations to address technical problems related to oil extraction and refining, carries a high cost borne by the state treasury.
The Minister of Oil concluded his statement by emphasizing the necessity of neutralizing oil and gas production and export operations from any disputes related to revenue distribution. He stressed the importance of ensuring a continuous availability of these revenues through sustained production, as they are the strength of the Libyan people and should not be gambled with.