Nearly a month after the closure of the main oil terminals in the east and south of the country, Fathi Bachagha, the Prime Minister designated by Parliament, announced that production and exports could resume. This blockade imposed by local tribes was costing Libya $60 million a day. Production should resume as soon as the infrastructure affected by the blockage is back in working order.
No official reason has been provided to explain the end of the crisis, apart from the statement by Prime Minister Fathi Bachagha who associates it: “with the successful efforts of Parliament and the government for the distribution of oil revenues”. The outcome comes however, a few hours after the meeting in Cairo of the American special envoy to Libya Richard Norland and the head of Parliament Aguila Saleh.
The latter had set as a condition for resuming production, the equitable distribution of oil revenues to all regions. Opinion also expressed by Fathai Bachagha who called for: “guaranteeing transparency in the management of oil revenues and fairness in their distribution.”
According to relatives of the head of Parliament, the American ambassador would have proposed to form a commission in charge of managing oil revenues, “in transparency and equity”. He called for the immediate resumption of production.
In response to this announcement, the ministry responsible for oil in Tripoli published on its Facebook page that: “those who blocked the oil fields are the same ones who made it possible to unblock them”, thus aiming without naming him Fathi Bachagha. The statement called for keeping the oil sector away from political disputes.
