Libya loses over $8 billion in 7 months due to Haftar’s oil blockade

Daily Sabah – Libya has suffered over $8 billion in losses as a result of the oil blockade and the closure of oil wells by putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s militias in the past 200 days, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced Monday.

In a statement, the NOC said the total losses from the blockade and closures have reached nearly $8.2 billion in 208 days.

Oil production has plunged by around three-quarters since forces loyal to Haftar launched a blockade. The blockade has also cut off revenue for state institutions operating across the country.

The NOC, which is responsible for the extraction, processing, distribution and export of oil in Libya, had announced on July 10 that they loaded oil on a vessel in Sidra Port and that production and exports would resume in the oil facilities.

However, two days later, in a message posted on his Twitter account, Haftar militia spokesman Ahmad al-Mismari said they would continue to block oil production until their “conditions” are met.

Pro-Haftar forces blockaded the main oil terminals in eastern Libya the day before a summit in Berlin on Jan. 19 that called for the end of foreign interference in the conflict and a resumption of the peace process.

Exports were suspended at the ports of Brega and Ras Lanuf starting Jan. 18.

Libya has been torn by a civil war since the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The country’s new government was founded in 2015 under a U.N.-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political settlement failed due to a military offensive by Haftar’s forces.

The U.N. recognizes the Libyan government headed by Fayez Sarraj as the country’s legitimate authority in Tripoli.

The government launched Operation Peace Storm against Haftar in March to counter his attacks on the capital since April 2019 and recently liberated strategic locations including al-Watiya air base and the city of Tarhuna, Haftar’s final stronghold in western Libya.