Al-Marash links valve closures to the struggle for oil influence
Libya – Political analyst Kamel Al-Marash said closures of oil facilities and of oil and gas transfer valves are an extension of a policy of blackmail aimed at financial gain and expanding influence, arguing that current demands reflect a struggle for control of major oil companies and for sharing them with the Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
Return to the 2012 closures
Speaking to the Erem News website, Al-Marash said what he described as “oil spoils” began in 2012, when the militia of Ibrahim Jadhran — operating from Ajdabiya near the Oil Crescent facilities — seized control of the major oil tanks.
He added that Ali Zeidan’s government at the time paid that formation nearly 450 million dinars, describing the sum as “tribute” and the group as a “gang”.
He said closures and bargaining continued afterwards and sometimes ended with parts of facilities being set on fire, which he considered a systematic policy of blackmail to obtain money and positions of influence and power.
Closing transfer valves
Al-Marash said the latest form of these practices is, in his words, the closure of oil and gas transfer valves by militias through whose areas the pipelines pass.
He said that had been repeated at valves carrying gas from south-western fields and the Hamada fields, accusing militias linked to Zintan tribes of being behind those closures.
