Tripoli–Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah demanded NOC to provide detailed disclosure of the financial allocations for the “exceptional” budget granted to the oil sector over the past year.
The PM’s demand came during an expanded meeting on Monday with the Chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), Masoud Suleiman, and a number of other ministers regarding NOC’s operating budget for 2025 and its financial needs to increase oil production.
The focus of the meeting, however, was on how NOC’s budgets for the period that goes back to 2019 were spent. This could be a rather thorny issue, especially as the UN and the international community are demanding Libyan politicians to establish a unified government and a unified public budget.
“Dbeibeh demanded NOC to provide detailed disclosure of the financial allocations for the extra budget granted to the sector over the past years, and to ensure that they are used to serve the development of oil infrastructure and enhance production,” a statement on the Government of National Unity (GNU) on its Facebook platform said.
Debeibeh also emphasized the importance of continuing the development of the sector, improving financial and administrative transparency, and strengthening governance within the National Oil Corporation.
In October 2023, the Audit Bureau’s annual report for 2022 stated that NOC’s “exceptional” budget was prepared without taking into consideration laws and regulation related to preparing budgets. This in addition to its failure to disclose the expenditures of 1.5 billion dinars allocated for operating expenses and it did not result in any overall increase in production, which was the primary objective of its approval.
Meanwhile, the GNU, pursuant to Resolutions No. (384) of 2021 and (970) of 2022, approved emergency and temporary financial arrangements for NOC amounting to over 34 billion, which were fully liquidated and deposited into the corporation’s accounts, according to the Audit Bureau’s report quoted by Alwasat newspaper.
The Bureau’s report also observed that the budget was prepared with exaggeration at both the operational and development levels, and was not determined according to a comprehensive study that included all the requirements and considerations that would be taken before withholding this large sum.
After examination and review, the Bureau found that 21.5 billion dinars had been transferred to oil companies that were affiliated with NOC between the years 2022 and 2023. Approximately 13 billion dinars remain with NOC, yet to be transferred due to oil companies’ being unwilling to require the money, the report found as quoted by Alwasat newspaper.
On 10 February 2025, the Office of the Attorney General ordered the imprisonment of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Waha Oil Company (WOC) Fathi Bin Zahiya citing irregularity of the management of the company’s financial assets and the embezzlement of about one billion dinar, according to a statement by the Attorney General Office.
The Bureau also noted the absence of a comprehensive plan that encompasses all elements and planning stages in accordance with established methodologies, nor any evidence that these allocations were targeting a plan that aims at increase production to two million barrels per day, according to a specific timetable.
Rather, the budget was determined “based on requests from companies that exaggerated in their allocations by creating unplanned projects and needs, without taking into account their limited capabilities and weak capacity to manage these large sums in light of the circumstances and conflicts the country is experiencing.”