US, France, Italy, UK deeply concerned over Libya's oil facilities' transfer

WASHINGTON, June 27 (KUNA) -- The governments of the US, France, Italy and the United Kingdom voiced Wednesday their deep concerned about the announcement that Ras Lanuf and Sidra oil fields and facilities will be transferred to the control of an entity other than the legitimate National Oil Corporation.
In a joint statement, the Governments of US, France, Italy and the UK stressed that Libya's oil facilities, production and revenues "belong to the Libyan people," and that these "vital" Libyan resources "must remain under the exclusive control of the legitimate National Oil Corporation and the sole oversight of the Government of National Accord (GNA)." They added "UN Security Council Resolution 2362 (2017) condemns attempts to illicitly export petroleum, including crude oil and refined petroleum products, from Libya by parallel institutions which are not acting under the authority of the GNA." "Any attempts to circumvent the UN Security Council's Libya sanctions regime will cause deep harm to Libya's economy, exacerbate its humanitarian crisis, and undermine its broader stability," they said.
They affirmed that the international community "will hold those who undermine Libya's peace, security, stability to account," and called for all armed actors "to cease hostilities and withdraw immediately from oil installations without conditions before further damage occurs." "The legitimate National Oil Corporation must be allowed again to take up unhindered work on behalf of the Libyan people, to repair infrastructure damaged after the attack by forces under the direction of Ibrahim Jadhran, and to restore the oil exports and production disrupted by that attack," the joint statement concluded. (end) si.mb