"Libya: Offshore platform deaths expose reality of neglected oil sector" 6 December 2021

The death of four Tunisians last month at an offshore oil platform in Libya has highlighted concerns about the country’s ageing oil infrastructure, which has suffered a decade of neglect and repeated shutdowns.

The four workers were killed and another seriously injured...while working at Libya’s al-Bouri offshore oil platform, where they were trying to disconnect a redundant floating tank. The infrastructure connecting the tank to the platform collapsed after a metal cable snapped, plunging the workers and tons of steel into the sea...

Mellitah Oil and Gas, a joint venture between Italy’s Eni and Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC)...confirmed that although it provided assistance and support following the incident, it was not directly involved, as the vessel was owned by a third party...

A month earlier, a nearby oil platform operated by Libya’s Mabruk Oil Operation was the scene of a significant oil spill, following a safety breach. “There was a leak in the platform’s rubber loading hose, which was hooked up to an oil tanker. The hose should have been checked before loading but there was some kind of mistake and it leaked, causing a spill,” an engineer working at the platform told MEE. (Mabruk did not reply to a request for comment)...

Although the NOC announced that the slick was brought swiftly under control and had not reached Libya’s beaches, the engineer said he believed the shoreline had been contaminated. Independently studied satellite images also indicated that the spill had not been contained as effectively as the NOC claimed. The NOC did not reply to a request for comment...