On Monday morning, April 26, 2021, Mr. Mustafa Sanalla, Chairman of the Board of Directors, held an emergency meeting for the Board of Directors and Chairmen of Arabian Gulf, Sirte and Ras Lanuf Companies, at the headquarters of the Arabian Gulf Oil Company in Benghazi to discuss the challenges facing AGOCO and the SOC. This meeting was chaired by Mr. Refaat Mohammed alabbar in his capacity as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas, based on the instructions of His Excellency the Prime minister of the National Unity Government to immediately take all the necessary measures to lift the force majeure and resume production.

In this regard, Eng. Mustafa Sanalla commented: “I am pleased that this important meeting is held upon an invitation from Mr. Refaat Mohammed alabbar, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas. He added, “on behalf of myself and my colleagues, I welcome Mr. Al-Abbar in his capacity as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas. Undoubtedly, the presence of young people in leadership positions creates a difference and adds a lot, and to be frank with you, I have found that he enjoys seriousness, initiative and keenness to support NOC and maintain the continuation of production. I am more optimistic than ever that we are now moving in the right direction. “

In this regard, Mr. Al-Abbar commented, “I was honored today to meet the Chairman and Members of the Board of Directors of the National Oil Corporation and the Chairmen of the Arabian Gulf Oil Company and the Sirte Oil Company and we will work together in a team spirit. The Libyan citizen deserves a lot from us.”

In a related context, he said, “To be honest with you, the relationship between the Ministry of Oil and the National Oil Corporation has always been a relationship of tensions, but at this critical stage in Libya’s contemporary history we have nothing but solidarity and integration, and on my behalf, I highly commend and value the efforts of the Chairman and Members of the Board of Directors who worked in critical and tough conditions and they have spared no effort in order to maintain the neutrality of this sector. I will do my best to control all challenges, overcome difficulties and bottlenecks and provide the necessary funding on time” adding “There is no way to waste more time.”

In this context, Mr. Sanalla has appreciated the prompt response by the Prime Minister of the National Unity Government by issuing Cabinet Resolution No. (49) allocating an amount of one billion dinars and considering it as part of the budget of the National Oil Corporation, adding that the government’s fast response is like restoring life to these companies. The companies are actually instructed to pay obligations, address technical problems and gradually resume production.

In this context, Mr. Al-Abbar added, “His Excellency the Prime Minister of the National Unity Government pays careful attention to time, stressing the need for NOC to take all necessary measures to lift the status of force majeure.” He said, “I have received assurances from His Excellency that absolute importance is given to the national oil sector, stressing the need for unification and intensifying efforts to preserve the regular income of the public treasury in hard currency and achieving the government’s goals for the year 2021.” And it was agreed with the Chairman of the Board of Directors to immediately resume production.

The attendees discussed, in a lengthy session, the state of financial default experienced by national companies through a review of the accumulated obligations that have reached unprecedented levels and which created a state of financial hardship with which it was impossible to continue operating all facilities, wells and surface facilities in a safe manner. It was agreed in this meeting on the following priorities:

First, NOC shall update a statement dealing with the accumulated obligations of all oil companies and scheduling them in preparation for the payment of their outstanding amounts within two months from the date of this statement, provided that priority is given to national companies.

Secondly, the National Oil Corporation shall immediately announce the lifting of the status of force majeure imposed on the port of Hariga and in parallel instructions are given to the operating companies to start production and exports.

Third, the National Oil Corporation assigns a specialized company with a good reputation and a high credit ranking to evaluate all facilities in the oil sector, including surface facilities, wells and reservoirs, in order to develop plans to preserve the integrity of all Libyan state-owned assets, provided that this evaluation is done in the fast manner.

Finally, based on the aforementioned, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas agreed to work together with the aim of achieving the sector’s objectives, raising the production capacity and placing the interest of this vital sector above all other considerations by continuing to adopt the same methodology in managing the sector, which is based on neutrality and adherence to the non-political technical role in the interest of all Libyans throughout the country.

Issued in Benghazi on 26 April, 2021.