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NOC claims monthly revenue dropped 69%

National Oil Corporation reported February 2020 revenues of approximately $555 million USD ($555,533,750.97), a decrease of around $1.21billion USD (68.6%) on January 2020 revenues. The February figure is also a decrease of around $708 million USD (56%) compared with February last year.

In a statement, NOC stated that its revenues come from sales of natural gas, crude oil and assorted derivative products, in addition to taxes and royalties received from concession contracts.

NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla commented: “February shows a major decrease in revenues as a result of the illegal blockade of numerous oil and gas facilities. This is a devastating, irreversible loss to the Libyan economy and people.”

“With less funds coming into the country Libya’s people are more at risk of suffering due to the further degradation of public services and facilities. The last time our monthly revenue hit this low was in September 2016. We can still see some revenue for previous sales that came through in February, but we expect this number to keep dropping sharply as long as this blockade continues.” he added.

Despite hardships, NOC distributes enough fuels for all Libyans.

Despite hardships and an illegal shut-down of many oil production and distribution facilities, NOC is still able to source and distribute enough fuels for all Libyans.

This includes the Eastern region, where NOC has sent approximately 700 thousand tonnes of fuels since the start of January to now.

NOC has spent over 300 million US dollars since the start of the blockade to purchase and transport fuels into Eastern Libya.

This includes approximately 20 legitimate shipments of fuel imports just for the Eastern region since the start of the blockade.

Oil and gas production in Libya have been consistently down. The current levels of production are 95,837 barrels a day, as of Sunday March 22, 2020. Forced restriction of production has resulted in financial losses exceeding 3,535,802,366 USD since January 17, 2020.

Oil Majors slash their spending

 Quoting Reuters, the world’s biggest oil and gas companies are slashing spending this year following a collapse in oil prices driven by a slump in demand because of coronavirus and a price war between the top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Cuts already announced by five major oil companies including Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell come to a combined $19 billion, or a drop of 18% from their initial spending plans of $106 billion.

Norway’s Equinor said on Wednesday it would cut capital expenditure, or capex, by some $2 billion while Chevron said on Tuesday it would slash its capex this year by $4 billion.

Oil prices have slumped 60% since January to below $30 a barrel. Brent crude LCOc1 was or 1.7% at $26.70 per barrel today as faltering fuel demand outweighed a massive pending U.S. economic stimulus package.

Oil prices fall

Oil prices fell today as faltering fuel demand because of the coronavirus pandemic outweighed a massive pending U.S. economic stimulus package.

Brent crude LCOc1 was down 49 cents, or 1.8%, at $26.66 a barrel at 14:00 GMT after touching a low of $25.68.

U.S. crude CLc1 was down 42 cents, or 1.75%, at $23.59 after a low of $23.15.

Global oil demand forecast to fall by 4.9 mln bpd in 2020

Global oil demand could fall by as much as 4.9 million barrels per day, or by about 4.9%, in 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak, Norway’s biggest independent energy consultancy Rystad Energy said today. The consultancy had forecast last week it would fall by 2.8 million bpd in 2020.

Rystad said oil demand in the month of April was forecast to fall by 16 million bpd, compared to a year earlier.

Rystad forecast a fall in jet fuel demand year on year of 20%, or 1.4 million bpd, while air traffic was expected to drop 8%. It said demand for vehicle fuel would fall 5.6%, or by 2.8 million bpd, year on year.

4 injured as intense fighting rocks Libya

An intense bombardment shook Tripoli through the night and a new battle erupted at an airbase outside the capital, hours after Libya reported its first case of coronavirus and despite U.N. calls for ceasefires around the world during the epidemic.

In a statement to “Tabadul”, the media adviser of the Ministry of Health, Amin Al-Hashemi, confirmed that 4  cases of moderate injuries were registered by bombing Al Sabaa region in Tripoli earlier today, noting that the number is likely to increase. Yet, there have been no reported deaths.

In a statement, The Volcano of Rage Operation reported that they targeted Al Sabaa regions, Bab Ben Ghashir, Ras Hassan, Tariq Al-Souq as well as Bier Altota.

Airlines set to lose 250 billion dollars in revenue

Global airlines urged governments to speed up bailouts to rescue the air transport industry as they doubled their estimate of 2020 revenue losses from the coronavirus crisis to more than $250 billion.

“We clearly need massive action very quickly and urgently,” Alexandre de Juniac, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) claimed, adding that airlines worldwide have grounded the majority of their fleets to preserve cash amid mounting travel restrictions designed to slow the spread of the epidemic.

The result has been huge pressure on the liquidity of airlines, up to half of which face possible bankruptcy in coming weeks if nothing is done to support the industry, IATA said.

“We have a liquidity crisis coming at full speed – no revenues and costs still on our (books), so we desperately need some cash,” de Juniac said.

Al sarraj: one-sided actions must not be taken

In yesterday’s statement, the Chairman of the Presidential Council, Fayez Al-Sarraj, called on authorities in Libya not to take unilateral actions contrary to the instructions approved by the Presidential Council in facing Coronavirus, emphasizing that the state of emergency is only to be declared upon instructions issued by the Presidential Council head, and pursuant to this resolution, the relevant bodies are to implement the specific orders issued for this purpose.

The Presidential Council also noted that some parties, including municipalities, have taken unilateral measures to face this pandemic, disturbing the plan put in place by the government in this regard.

Al Sarraj discusses Libya’s readiness to face the new pandemic

Yesterday, the Chairman of the Presidential Council , Fayez Al Sarraj held a meeting in order to discuss and review the health sector’s preparations and readiness to face Coronavirus pandemic.

During the meeting, the situation and conditions of hospitals and health facilities were reviewed. Moreover, the equipment provided so far; including laboratory diagnostic devices and isolation locations, as well as the epidemic development at the international level were highlighted too.