Fuel Tankers Evacuated from Tripoli Port After Attacks Near LPG Ship

National Oil Corporation (NOC) of Libya confirms that fuel vessels have been urgently evacuated from Tripoli port and all offloading operations were cancelled after projectiles struck meters away from a highly explosive LPG tanker discharging in the port.

NOC Chairman Eng. Mustafa Sanalla said: “Today’s attack on Tripoli port could have led to a humanitarian and environmental disaster and it will have a significant impact on a crowded region like Tripoli. The city does not have operational fuel storage facilities as the capital’s main storage warehouse was evacuated as a result of the fighting on Airport Road area, where the warehouse is located. The consequences will be immediate; hospitals, schools, power stations and other vital services will be disrupted. We condemn this behavior in the strongest possible terms and ask the international community to intervene rapidly to prevent a serious escalation in the conflict and to allow NOC to manage fuel supplies.”

Following the attack, the LPG tanker and a gasoline tanker that were in Tripoli immediately left the port for safe waters. NOC is exploring alternative ways to supply Tripoli and its surroundings with fuel.

Despite international efforts at productive peace talks between the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libya National Army (LNA) headed up by General Khalifa Haftar out of the east, tensions have heightened in recent days. On Tuesday Haftar’s LNA shelled Tripoli’s seaport for the first time. The GNA said it is suspending its participation in ceasefire negotiations hosted by the United Nations in Geneva, hours after the attack by Haftar’s forces on the capital’s port.