The United States has urged all Libyan leaders to develop a comprehensive mechanism to control oil revenues as a constructive way to address grievances regarding the distribution of oil revenues and to ensure transparency without jeopardizing Libya’s economic stability or the non-political nature of the National Oil Corporation. This call was made by Richard Norland, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, in a tweet on Friday.
According to Norland’s tweet, the United States also called on Libyan political actors to refrain from threatening to shut down oil production, as such actions would have devastating consequences on the Libyan economy and harm all Libyans.
During a panel discussion on Friday, the U.S. envoy stated that their diplomatic effort focuses on “how to help Libyans arrive at a mechanism for distributing oil revenues.” Norland participated in the panel discussion along with Anne A. Witkowsky, Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations, Andrew J. Heyd, a former U.S. diplomat, and a senior researcher from the Stimson Center in Washington.
Last Saturday, the government appointed by the House of Representatives, under the leadership of Prime Minister Osama Hamad, announced that it had completed administrative seizure procedures for funds related only to the development fund, without affecting the salary provisions disbursed from the first budget item in the general budget. The government stated that it would take legal measures by resorting to the Libyan judiciary to appoint a judicial guardian over the seized funds. If necessary, it would raise the red flag, halt the flow and export of oil and gas, and issue an order declaring a state of force majeure.
In May of last year, the Administrative Court of Appeal in Benghazi temporarily suspended the implementation of a decision by the interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibah, which involved increasing the allocations of the third item (development fund) (16.5 billion dinars) for use in covering developmental projects under the 2022 financial arrangements.
This came after the current Prime Minister, Osama Hamad, who was then the Minister of Planning and Finance in the Bashagha government, filed a lawsuit against al-Dbeibah to halt his decision. The lawsuit accused the al-Dbeibah government of committing “serious financial crimes and violations” following a letter sent by Hamad to the Attorney General, the head of the Administrative Control Authority, the head of the Audit Bureau, and the head of the Anti-Corruption Authority on December 29th last year.
