Libya gas plant resumes production after protestors lose control

Libyan government forces took back control of gas plant Mellitah and resumed production, Asharq Al-Awsat and agencies report on July 28^th.

On July 27^th, protestors previously forced their way inside and took control of the site in response to the power cuts and unreliable energy in Libya. They stopped all the site’s production.  According to GECOL, an electricity company, “several groups of people entered the Mellitah complex to shut off the gas valves supplying power plants, which threatens to put several plants out of service and increases the likelihood of a general collapse of the power grid”.

The Libyan army were ordered “to immediately take full control of the Mellitah gas complex and to reopen the gas pipelines” by the Government of National Unit (GNU) based in Tripoli, Libya’s capital.

Since the government has regained control of Mellitah, the authorisation of “the resumption of gas production and the return to normal operations” was announced by NOC. Oil field production and an offshore platform to power the Mellitah site have also resumed according to the NOC.

The Mellitah Oil and gas company is controlled by the National Oil Corporation (NOC) as well as the Italian energy company ENI. Up to 13 billion cubic meters of gas can be produced at the Mellitah factory, with eight billion exported to Italy and five billion allocated to local power plants in Libya.

Since the fall of Muammar Gadhafi’s regime in 2011, Libya has faced internal division, causing an increasing number of conflicts over oil and energy. Citizens now regularly face frequent and severe disruptions in their power supply.

Alongside the protestors taking control of the Mellitah production site, groups of young people gathered in Tripoli to chant “the people want the fall of the regime” and pour rubbish outside the doors of oil and gas company headquarters.

Asharq Al-Awsat and agencies, Maghrebi.org