Possible Halt of Libyan Gas Flows to Italy

The possible closure of the pipeline that brings Libyan gas to Italy is only one aspect of the fierce political battle underway for the huge finances of the North African country, member of the OPEC+ oil cartel. The senior analyst of the International Crisis Group (Icg) Claudia Gazzini stated this to "Agenzia Nova". A month after the reopening of the Sharara giant oil field, which was closed for about ten days in January, the Guards of the oil facilities in western Libya, a military agency nominally affiliated to the Ministry of Defense, led by the interim prime minister of Government of national unity, Abdulhamid Dabaiba, complain about the non-payment of salaries and threaten to prevent the access and exit of workers from the Mellitah oil and gas complex, the only hub for the export of Libyan gas to Italy through the Greenstream gas pipeline. According to Gazzini, however, this is only a marginal facet of a much larger issue: that of access to Libya's huge financial resources. “The problem is not Mellitah. Each time it closed it was only for a few days. I don't expect long-term development,” says Gazzini.

At this moment, according to the expert, there are numerous financial issues open in Muammar Gaddafi's former Jamahiriya. The most significant move is the creation by Aguila Saleh, president of the Libyan House of Representatives, the parliament elected in 2014, of the broad-spectrum reconstruction fund instituted after the disaster in Derna, a city in eastern Libya swept away by subtropical cyclone Daniel, headed by Belkacem Haftar, one of the sons of General Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army headquartered in Benghazi. A fund that should actually be financed by the governor of the Central Bank of Tripoli, Al Saddiq al Kabir. At the same time, a new financial committee at the national level headed by parliamentarian Omar Tantush should replace the old financial body linked instead to the Presidential Council of Tripoli wanted by the US envoy, Richard Norland. “These are all background issues linked to the actual problem of salaries, even if I understand that those for January have been paid,” Gazzini continues.

On February 20, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Libya made an official appeal to the Central Bank of Libya, as well as all public institutions and companies in the country, not to transfer funds to the government Dabaiba. The presidency of Parliament declared that Gun's mandate has now expired, accusing him of corruption and embezzlement of public funds. The statement also warned that any transfer of funds, including loans, to the Tripoli government would constitute a violation of the provisions of Law No. 2 of 1979 on economic crimes and its amendments. “Will this threat remain just a hypothesis on paper? Will an agreement ever be reached between these financial institutions to avoid bearing Dabaiba's expenses? I can't predict the future, but it seems that the heart of the issue lies here: it is a political game in which the parties discuss issues of considerable economic importance", concludes Gazzini.