The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said, on Saturday, that an armed militia is preventing the maintenance of a pipeline of Sharara oil field, which raises the specter of a real environmental tragedy.

In a statement on Facebook, the NOC said that an armed militia commanded by a person called Abedelkarim Alrouni has prevented the maintenance teams affiliated to Akakus Oil Operations from opening Alhamada valve in order to pump chemical substances that would help protect the transfer line from corrosion.  

“As we have already warned technical problems resulted from the blockade of the petroleum installations started to appear by the corrosion and collapse of the Tank D101B at the area of tank GOSP 115   of 16,000 barrels at Sharara Field occurred yesterday morning because of the formation of a pond of crude oil at the tanks area which predicts the occurrence of many technical and environmental problems in the oil sector,” NOC added.

The NOC has addressed the public prosecution and the concerned authorities to investigate the incident and arrest those responsible for such acts, insisting that the NOC is a purely economic body whose task is to manage the oil sector and support the national economy.

While the NOC did not clarify to whom the militia belongs, it called on the elders and dignitaries of Zintan city in the western mountain region located near Alriyayna area to prioritize the national interest over any other consideration and lift the social and legal cover on the perpetrators.

It urged them to cooperate with the Public Prosecution Office in order to bring those responsible for such acts to justice.

“We must remember that the losses of the State of Libya resulted from closing of the oil pipelines and ports have exceeded 5 billion dollars and amounted to US $ 5,026,074,163. These amounts could have been used in combating the coronavirus pandemic, pay the employees’ salaries, maintenance schools, hospitals and the destroyed infrastructure. This issue predicts a huge economic disaster according to economists,” NOC underlined.