Protesters angered by power cuts entered Libya's Mellitah Oil and Gas complex on Tuesday and threatened to halt gas and fuel supplies to domestic and international markets. As of Tuesday morning local time it was unclear whether any supply had actually stopped. A halt would set back a hydrocarbon revival that had only just started to take shape.
Protesters entered the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex on Tuesday and threatened to halt gas and fuel supplies for both the domestic and international markets. The move escalated several days of anti-government protests over power cuts and high electricity bills.
Tripoli has been the main stage of protests against the Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. Earlier this week demonstrators blocked streets and roads out of the capital over frequent and spreading power cuts and high electricity rates.
Protesters aim at the gas pipeline to Italy
From the streets the demonstrations moved to the energy sites themselves. They spread to the Mellitah Gas processing plant, where protesters are reportedly trying to stop natural gas exports to Italy via a pipeline to solve Libya's gas and power shortage.
Sources among the protesters told Middle East Online on Tuesday that expanding into the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex is intended to halt gas exports to Italy and pile economic pressure on the Government of National Unity to force its resignation. However, as of Tuesday morning local time it remained unclear whether the protesters had succeeded in halting any gas or oil supply.
What a halt would cost Libya's oil revival
Further escalation and a potential halt to some oil and gas activities would be a big blow to Libya's hydrocarbon revival, which had just started to take shape under relatively safer conditions after years of civil war. Earlier this month Libya's National Oil Corporation and Austrian energy firm OMV declared the Essar oil discovery commercially viable, as OPEC's second-largest African producer pushes to revive its industry in partnerships with international oil majors.
Fresh halts to Libya's oil and natural gas supply recovery would be a blow to global markets too, which are reeling from the shock loss of crude, fuels, and LNG supply from the Middle East.
Source: Oilprice.com
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