Commander of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG), Major General Naji Al-Maghrabi, denied on Monday claims that the Islamic State group (ISIS) attacked Zueitina oil field, located 180 kilometers southwest of Benghazi on the Gulf of Sirte.
After securing and protecting oil fields in the southern region from armed groups, the 73rd Infantry Brigade of the Libyan National Army (LNA) handed over in January Zueitina oil port to Maghrabi, chairman of the parallel east-based National Oil Corporation (NOC).
Zueitina is among the oil ports that the eastern-based LNA said in June 2018 will be under the management of the parallel NOC in Benghazi.
The ports are vital to controlling crude exports, the North African nation’s main source of revenue, although the instability at the terminals creates uncertainty for international buyers of oil and could cause a suspension of exports.
The storage capacity of Zueitina Oil Port is about 6.5 million barrels of crude oil, 988 thousand barrels of naphtha, 240 thousand barrels of liquefied butane gas and 270 thousand barrels of liquefied propane gas, according to Zueitina Oil Company’s website.
The parallel NOC; however, finds it difficult to export oil because the original NOC in Tripoli is the one internationally recognized.
