Libyan oil minister, head of oil company clash over composition of board for company
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Differences between the Libyan Minister of Oil, Mohamed Aoun and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC), Mustafa Sanallah, on Thursday escalated over the composition of the board of directors of the NOC.
This followed Mr. Sanallah's response to the Oil Minister's statement that the composition of the Board of Directors of the company is in violation of the law.
He said the minister only repeated the same words and arguments on the basis of which he had brought the case before the administrative court and lost.
The judges found that the minister's accusations "were unfounded and that the Board of Directors is properly composed".
He then attacked Mr. Aoun directly and personally in a video posted on the NOC's Facebook page on Thursday, saying of him, "you were an official of the oil and gas company, 'Melita' from where you were fired in 2011 during the revolution. There was no personal animosity towards you".
The Libyan oil minister said on 16 August that he sent a letter to Prime Minister Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba challenging the legitimacy of the composition of the NOC's Board of Directors and calling for a reshuffle.
Mr Aoun believes that the decision to assign Mr Sanallah to this position in 2014 is legally invalid, as it was not authorised by the Ministerial Council at the time, but merely by the Deputy Minister of Oil.
Sanallah accused the minister of waging a "senseless media campaign" against the oil sector, saying that Aoun "is working to destroy the only company that has been able to work under very difficult conditions".
-0- PANA AD/IN/JSG/BBA/MA 3Sept2021
