Oil Minister Mohammed Oun issued a statement revealing developments in the rift with the Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in light of the presence of two ministers at the head of the oil and gas portfolio.
Oun called on the Prime Minister to take a clear stance regarding the leadership crisis in the Ministry of Oil, either by correcting the situation, or issuing a decision to dismiss him from the position of Minister of Oil and Gas in the Government of National Unity.
“The current situation, with the presence of a legitimate and illegitimate ministers for the sector, leads to extremely serious damage to Libya," Oun saidx giving the example of Schlumberger’s threat to leave the country.
He noted the failure to abide by the Administrative Control Authority's decision addressed to the Prime Minister to implement the decision of his return to work as Minister of Oil and Gas. He also hinted that his exclusion from the government could be due to his “serious and solid national stances toward what is not consistent with the supreme interest of Libya, and his rejection of everything that is not consistent with the laws, rules and regulations of the Libyan state.”
Despite the acquittal, the Prime Minister refuses to return Oun to his duties, as he did not respond to the correspondence of the minister, who tried to communicate with him in more than one way, so Dabaiba, according to what observers see, seeks to end the era of Oun and replace him with Khalifa Abdul Sadiq.
Details of the rift go back to March 26, 2024, when the Administrative Control Authority issued a decision to suspend Libyan Oil Minister Oun due to what it described as “committing legal violations that harmed the public interest of the state.”
Hours after the decision to suspend Oun - who denied committing any violations - the Prime Minister decided to assign the Deputy Minister of Oil and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Oil Corporation, Khalifa Abdul Sadiq, to manage the work of the Ministry of Oil.
On May 12, 2024, the Administrative Control Authority announced the lifting of the precautionary suspension on Oil Minister Oun, after it completed its investigation and acquitted him of the violations attributed to him, “the details of which the Authority did not publish.”
Although Oun returned to his work about a month ago, the crisis of division in the sector continued as Khalifa Abdul Sadiq continued his work within the ministry’s office as a minister-designate under strict instructions from Prime Minister Dbeibah.
