Reopening oil production enhances LNA’s capabilities to confront terrorism

Nora Bandari

Libyan National Army (LNA) Commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar announced on Friday, September 18, the reopening of oil facilities and allowing for the production and export of Libyan oil soon after this was stopped for several months. The aim is to prevent oil money from benefitting terrorist groups in Libya, as well as Turkey, which had been obtaining part of the oil revenue.

Libyan agreement

Haftar declared that the reason for the resumption of the production and export of Libyan oil is the low standard of living among citizens, which prompted the LNA to put all political and military considerations aside and to respond to national motives. He noted that oil exports will resume, but according to specific conditions and considerations, the most important of which is a fair distribution of oil revenues in a way that serves all Libyans and is not used to support terrorism.

The decision to resume oil production was agreed upon following a dialogue between representatives of the LNA leadership, the sheikhs of the Libyan tribes, members of the Tobruk-based House of Representatives, and the deputy chairman of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Presidency Council, Ahmed Maiteeq.

It should be noted that Libya ranks fifth in the Arab world in terms of oil reserves, as oil represents about 95% of total revenues. Its revenues last year amounted to more than $22 billion. Therefore, terrorist groups and Turkey have set their eyes on the oil in order to seize the resources and wealth of the Libyan people, as the GNA, headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, has used most of the oil revenues to support and finance militias, while Turkey also received a part of these revenues in exchange for its “services” to the GNA.

Position of Sarraj and his militias

Sarraj and his militias rejecting this agreement could be witnessed on the evening of September 18, when the Misrata militia attacked a press conference for Maiteeq, forcing him to cancel it. The attack came in protest to the agreement between the LNA and Maiteeq after understandings with the Libyan tribal sheikhs to launch a special committee to distribute oil revenues, in addition to the fact that some GNA leaders declared their rejection of this agreement, the most prominent of whom was Osama Jawili, the commander of the Western Military Region. He described the agreement as a “farce,” according to Libyan media. Some sources said that Sarraj also rejected the agreement to re-produce and export oil, according to Bloomberg.

Implications of the Libyan agreement

It is clear that Sarraj’s militias will seek to use all means to obstruct this agreement, which could threaten the resumption of production, but the LNA will work to strengthen its deployment to protect the oil installations and prevent their theft.

When the LNA announced halting the work of the oil installations in 2019, analysts said it was the correct decision, as the production and export of oil would have strengthened the GNA in its conflict with the LNA, so stopping the production could be used a pressure card to bring the militias to return to negotiations.

Meanwhile, Libyan sources, especially tribal sheikhs, confirmed after the signing of the agreement on September 18 that the decision to close the oil installations was at the request of the tribes. But after affirming that all revenues from these facilities were going to the Sarraj government and his militias and central bank in Tripoli, which is under the control of the Brotherhood, the tribal sheikhs gave the LNA a mandate to protect the wealth of Libyans from looting and theft.

A number of tribal sheikhs stressed that reopening the oil fields does not mean giving up the rights of Libyans and allowing the transfer of funds to terrorist groups and armed militias, but rather aims to relieve the Libyan citizens and solve their suffering and crises by eliminating terrorism and corruption and resolving the crises of electricity cuts, high prices, delayed salaries, and the lack of various services, such as education, construction, in addition to the provision of basic needs for citizens.