Haftar hands out oil ports to Libyan National Oil Corporation

The Libyan National Oil Corporation announced the lifting of the status of “Force Majeure” on oil ports east of the country and the resumption of export operations.

This came after forces from the House of Representatives, led by Khalifa Haftar, handed over the management of the ports of Ra’s Lanuf, Sidra, Zuwetina and Al-Harika to the Oil Corporation, which is affiliated to the Government of National Accord, on Wednesday morning.

Several Western countries have pressured Haftar and called him to hand out the ports with no restrictions and conditions. They stressed their rejection of any attempts to export or smuggle Libyan oil other than through the National Oil Corporation.

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The Tripoli-based Corporation said in a statement that it had lifted the status of “Force Majeure” declared on the aforementioned ports, and confirmed that the production and export operations will gradually return to normal levels over the next few hours.

The head of the Corporation, Mustafa Sanallah, reiterated his call for greater transparency and fair distribution of oil imports.

“We are in an urgent need to hold a national dialogue regarding the fair distribution of oil imports in Libya, because this issue is one of the main factors of the crisis. The only solution to address it is committing ourselves to transparency,” explained Sanallah.

He also reiterated his call to all responsible authorities, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank to publish detailed budgets and public expenditures “so that all Libyans can monitor every dinar spent from their oil welfare.”

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The case of “Force Majeure” is declared in case an oil zone is subjected to a compelling circumstance, whereby the signatory parties to the contract regarding the production, export and consumption of oil shall be exempted from any obligation or penal conditions.