Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Wednesday its Chairman Mustafa Sanallah and Schlumberger Ltd Chief Executive Olivier Le Peuch agreed on technology transfer talks to help restart the country’s oil wells and improve output.
The executives met on Tuesday, the state oil company said, without disclosing details.
The Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord, Fayez Al-Sarraj, held a meeting with the heads of the High Council of State (HCS), the National Oil Corporation (NOC), the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), the Administrative Control Authority and the Ministry of Finance. During the meeting, they discussed the repercussions and implications of the freezing of oil revenues.
The attendees agreed on activating a joint committee, which includes the Audit Bureau, the Ministry of Finance, the CBL and representatives of the eastern-based Ministry of Finance in order to coordinate matters related to public finance.
The attendees also called for a subsequent meeting for the board of directors of the Central Bank to find solutions to the issues facing Libya’s economy, urging to discuss mechanism to unfreeze oil revenues and bring things back to normal with an active control and transparency roles.
The meeting touched on the mechanisms to lift the existing freezing of revenues and return operations to normal. The participants emphasized the activation of monitoring mechanisms, and their commitment to transparency standards.
The Deputy prime minister of the government in eastern Libya, Abdul Salam al-Badri, said during a televised interview for WTV channel and Tabadul Platform that Libya is the most corrupt State in the world in terms of transparency arrangements as a result of the irrational and inappropriate policies.
“We cannot talk about transparency in monitoring and calculating the oil revenues under these circumstances,” he said, adding that the oil sector was neglected for a long time as a result of the looting, the lack of maintenance, and the absence of provisions.
“We, as Libyan citizens, are suffering from foreign interference.” He pointed out, stressing that 30% of the Libyan oil has been held hostage by ENI.”
In a televised interview for Libyan WTV channel and Tabadul Platform, the chairman of Libya’s Zawiya tribe, Al-Senussi Al-Haliq, criticized the recent speech issued by the NOC’s Chairman, Mustapha Sanalla, stressing that the main reason behind this speech is Sanalla’s personal conflicts of interest with the governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Saddiq Al-Kabir.
“Instead of being an employee hired by a company that belongs to the Libyan people, Sanalla works through a management structure as if he is working in his own company,” He said.
He also accused Sanalla of talking nonsense, while ctiticizing his support for Al-Kabir in the past.
As far as the Libyans are concerned, Al-Haliq said that they were not only displaced, but they also starved.
During a televised interview for WTV channel and Tabadul Platform, the academic Abu Bakker Abu Al-Kacem accused the chairman of the National Oil Corporation, Mustapha Sanalla, of a lack of transparency. Nevertheless, he described him as an irresponsible voice phenomena.
“When an official speaks, he must be held accountable for his speech. Sanalla should have pointed out that the agreement was reached in concert with the Presidential Council and some other states,” he added.
The spokesperson also criticized the fact that Sanalla attributed withholding revenues to himself. Infact, it has been endorsed by a group of Parties, either domestic or external.
He expressed concern about the possibility of resorting to transfer the revenues to an offshore account, under international control. Thus, if a CBL Board meeting will not take place so as to agree upon some items, we may find ourselves in the “oil-for-food” position
“Sanalla’s recent speech is considered as a scream filled with so much honesty. It is a scream of a Libyan citizen who feels the suffering of the Libyan people.” said Ghazi Maalli, a policy analyst and researcher, during a televised interview for WTV channel and Tabadul Platform.
” There is a very high rate of inflation exceeding 200 or 250 per cent, and this only happens in failing states. The situation has been developing to become similar to the Venezuelan example. At the scientific level, Libya is not only too far from failure, but also from the Venezuelan example.” Ghazi Maalli said.
Compared with Tunisia, the analyst revealed that reserves in Libya stands at about $57 billion. However, reserves in Tunisia balance to $5 billion.
“Libya’s population is at about 6 million, and it has no debts. However, Tunisia that includes about 12 million people has debts of around $40 billion,” he added.
The researcher called for the necessity of determining the exchange rate at 1.40 or, at the very least, at 3.5, considering that any increment in salaries may deepens the inflation and weakens the purchasing capacity.
The Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Fayez Al-Sarraj has called for a highly important meeting with high-profile officials to be held on Tuesday to discuss the ramifications of freezing oil revenues and propose solutions to avoid war and division in the country.
Al-Sarraj said in a letter to the officials invited to the meeting that given the ongoing political and economic conditions, they should attend Tuesday the discussion at the Prime Ministry headquarters in Tripoli.
The invited officials are the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Head of High Council of State, Chief of Supreme Council of Judiciary, Acting Attorney General, Governor of Libya’s Central Bank, Head of Audit Bureau, Head of Administrative Authority, Minister of Planning, Minister of Finance, and Chairman of the National Oil Corporation.