TRIPOLI: Libya’s Natio­nal Oil Company said on Monday that it suffered “catastrophic losses” when two storage tanks were destroyed during fierce clashes in the country’s northeastern oil crescent.

Armed groups on Thursday attacked the Ras Lanuf and Al-Sidra terminals held by forces loyal to Libyan strongman’s Khalifa Haftar around 650 kilometres east of Tripoli.

On Sunday, Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army launched an offensive to push the militias — loyal to rebel leader Ibrahim Jadhran — out of the oil crescent.

The NOC said it had lost “storage tanks two and 12 at the Ras Lanuf port terminal following Thursday’s armed assault by militia in the Oil Crescent, led by Ibrahim Jadhran”.

Ras Lanuf’s storage capacity — at 950,000 barrels of crude before the attack — has now been reduced to 550,000, the NOC said.

A photo published by the firm showed large columns of black smoke billowing from a destroyed reservoir.

Jadhran’s Petroleum Facilities Guard controlled the terminals for years following the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime Libyan strongman Moamer Qadhafi, but were eventually forced out by the LNA in September 2016.

“This incident will result in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs, and billions in lost sales opportunities”, the NOC said, adding it would take years to rebuild amid the country’s current security circumstances.

The NOC said it had halted oil exports from Ras Lanuf and Al-Sidra because of the violence.

NOC chief Mustafa Sanallah warned that if oil exports from these terminals remain at a standstill it could cause a “national disaster”.

Libyan forces carried out airstrikes against the militia attacking key oil ports in the east, a spokesman said as Libya’s national oil firm warned of further damage to oil infrastructure as well as environmental contamination in the north African country.The air strikes late on Sunday targeted fighters loyal to Jadhran, who are trying to seize the oil terminals, said Ahmed al-Mesmari, a spokesman for the LNA.

He said warplanes carried out air strikes against “terrorist positions and gatherings in the operational military zone stretching from Ras Lanuf to the edge of the city of Sirte.”

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2018