By John Lee.
The National Oil Corporation (NOC) has warning that the unsafe storage of chemicals at the country's oil ports risks a potentially worse disaster than last week's explosion in Beirut.
In a video, NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla said:
"The militarization of oil facilities, the presence of mercenaries as well as the military escalation increase the risks that hydrocarbons and chemicals stored at oil ports pose to workers and local population.
"This may lead to a disaster that is more severe than Beirut's port and a massive destruction that will cause Libya to be out of the oil market for so many years. This will also result in the loss of sales opportunities estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars that other oil-producing countries will benefit from.
"Furthermore, tens of billions will be needed for reconstruction at a time when budgets available are limited.
"Due to the lack of condensate storage capacities, associated gas production will stop during the coming days, which will significantly increase load shedding in the eastern region, especially in the light of the depletion of the budget allocated to import fuel to address natural gas and local refineries products shortages over the past period.
"Commercial companies such as the Libyan-Norwegian company are facing severe financial difficulties due to the shutdown of their production."
(Source: NOC)
