LIBYA: Protests against corruption and poor management in Libyan oil industry force a senior manager to be escorted out of Waha Oil company offices under armed protection

Record ID: 344012

  • Title: LIBYA: Protests against corruption and poor management in Libyan oil industry force a senior manager to be escorted out of Waha Oil company offices under armed protection
  • Date: 3rd October 2011
  • Summary: TRIPOLI, LIBYA (OCTOBER 2, 2011) (REUTERS) CROWDS GATHERED OUTSIDE WAHA OIL OFFICES MEN HOLDING LARGE PLACARD IN FRONT OF ENTRANCE, PLACARD IN ARABIC READING: "OUR DEMAND IS CHANGE AND CLEARING SO PRODUCTION CAN INCREASE" PLACARD, READING IN ARABIC: "WE ARE ON STRIKE UNTIL CHANGE OF THE ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE AND CORRUPTION ENDS. PRODUCTION WILL NOT BE BACK UNTIL A NE
  • Embargoed: 18th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Crime,Politics,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA2YWKQM3YVBOQ3QDV35VVCTG1K
  • Story Text: Large crowds gathered outside the Tripoli offices of the Waha Oil Company on Sunday (October 2), demanding that corrupt senior managers be removed before they return to work.
    Protesters carried placards calling for immediate changes in management, saying work would not continue until there were changes.
    "Our demand is an immediate change of the administration committee because the committee, even before the revolution, was full of corruption. During the revolution it supported the regime and provided them with petrol," said employee Mohammed al-Sayeh.
    Armed fighters with Libya's ruling interim governing council waved to the cheering crowd from one of the office windows before escorting the deputy manager out of the building, passing the protesters on the way.
    Waha Oil Company is based at the Es-Sider oil terminal on Libya's eastern coast, about 180 km (110 miles) from Sirte city, the besieged hometown of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi.
    It is owned by Libya's National Oil Corporation in a joint venture with American firms ConocoPhillips, Marathon and Amerada Hess, its website said.
    In March, Waha Oil Company's output dropped to less than a third of its normal level as ships avoided Libya, halting exports, with looters damaging its facilities, senior oil workers said.
    The National Transitional Council, Libya's de facto government after Gaddafi's forces were expelled from most of the capital Tripoli last week, is struggling to revive the oil- and gas-based economy.
    Revenues from the industry will be vital as the council tries to pay salaries, restore basic services and impose order across the vast, war-battered country more than six months after the revolt against Gaddafi's four-decade rule began.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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