Fuel chief suspended as Libya’s fuel crisis worsens

A severe fuel shortage in oil-rich Libya has led to the suspension of the country’s top fuel official as tit-for-tat moves between rival governments escalate and raise alarm bells about to the fragility of the political status quo.

The rival governments that control different parts of Libya’s oil wealth chain are jockeying for position ahead of another confrontation that could once again halt Libyan oil exports.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister of Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, suspended the head of the state-owned fuel distribution company, Brega Oil Marketing. Brega chairman Fouad Belrahim will remain suspended pending an investigation into his activities, which are said to have led to an internal fuel shortage and long lines at gas stations, according to Libya Observatory.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dbeibah called for the reopening of all gas stations that have closed in Tripoli due to lack of supplies, while the government now tries to work out a mechanism to distribute fuel to those stations.

According to the Libya Observer, lines at those gas stations still open Wednesday were up to seven miles long.

Before President Belrahim’s suspension, Brega attributed the fuel shortage to delays in the arrival of gasoline tankers at domestic ports on Wednesday, suggesting the expected tankers would arrive on Wednesday and Thursday.

Prime Minister GNU Dbeibah, of the government in Tripoli, is trying to gain control of Libya’s oil-related institutions and is targeting certain officials in this maneuver. At the same time, forces representing the rival eastern-controlled government, including strongman General Khalifa Haftar, are similarly jockeying for position, causing disruption at Libya’s largest oil field, Sharara, last week in retaliation for being briefly detained on a Spanish smuggling warrant. .

Meanwhile, rival governments battle for control of the country Central Bankwhich handles all oil revenues.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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