The United States and a number of European countries called on Libya and some producing countries to increase production to cover the deficit that could be caused by the raging military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The call is faced with disputes between the Chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mustafa Sanalla, and Oil and Gas Minister Mohammed Oun, who rejected it by saying that Libya must be neutral in the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, which prompted the embassies of the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Britain to intervene in favor of Sanalla, who asked for help from private companies and asked them to contribute to the implementation of the projects of the NOC.
The Ministry of Oil and Gas considered the joint statement issued by the embassies of the five Western countries a blatant interference in the internal affairs of Libya, and an attempt to dominate the local decision-making authority and extend its full sovereignty over the national wealth, saying it was a flagrant violation of the national spirit of workers in the oil sector.
In the meantime, Sanalla continues to meet the demand to increase production, as he intensified his meetings with private sector companies to implement projects aimed at increasing production capacity in line with the position of the unity government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, amid expectations of the development of the conflict between Sanalla and Oun, hence; negatively affecting the continued pumping of crude.
