Sanalla Out as Libya Looks to Reopen Oil Facilities, Restart Exports

Mustafa Sanalla, the long serving Chairman of the National Oil Corp. (NOC) in Libya, has been replaced by Farhat bin Qadara as Libya announced it will begin restarting production from its oil fields and resuming exports following an agreement between the government and NOC.

The restarts were announced at a press conference in Benghazi shortly after Bin Qadara was named the new chairman and had taken over from Sanalla.

Most major facilities have been under force majeure due to a number of issues including protests, severely degraded infrastructure and disagreements between the NOC and the Energy Ministry.

In March 2021 Libya created an Oil Ministry headed up by Mohamed Oun. Sanalla was never under the good graces of the then, new oil minister, and the two often made headlines with their public bickering. Oun has worked over his term to try and oust Sanalla.

“The first step I will take is to return to previous oil production rates before the closure, and it will be within a week,” Bin Qadara said in an interview with Bloomberg. The new chief also stated he would keep the NOC apolitical.

Libya’s House of Representatives Speaker Ageela Saleh told U.S. Ambassador and Special Envoy to Libya Richard Norland, that Libya’s oil fields and ports will be reopened after installing a mechanism for distributing oil revenues in a fair manner to all regions.