RIYADH: The Arabian Gulf Oil Company is unable to continue its activity and carry out its work because it does not have the necessary funds, the Libyan state-owned company said on its Facebook account.
The company has been conducting business without access to the budgets of 2020 and 2021 despite repeated promises from the government, the company said.
This has led to the accumulation of debts and obligations and an inability to provide the necessary spare parts, equipment, operating and production requirements, and to pay its workers, the statement said.
The company will be forced to suspend all activities and works unless it is provided with the funds necessary to operate production.
The Arabian Gulf Oil Company is based in Benghazi, Libya, and engages in crude oil and natural gas exploration, production and refining.
Libya needs to increase its oil production by 40 percent to about 1.8 million bpd from 2022 to cover its expenditures and implement economic reforms, Central Bank of Libya Governor Saddek El Kaber said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday.
Oil is Libya’s only source of income and increased production would ensure $35 billion in revenue next year. The funds will help the war-torn country to carry out development and reconstruction plans, he said.
Libya, with the largest oil reserves in Africa, pumps about 1.3 million barrels of crude per day.