“Banning informal sales” and multiple fuel smuggling outlets

Benghazi, January 23, 2024 (Al-Anbaa Libya) – The statements of the Minister of the Interior of the National Unity Government, Imad Trabelsi, renewed the controversy over fuel shortages due to smuggling operations, while confirming that his ministry will prevent filling fuel by gallons inside filling stations, and will prohibit the sale of fuel on public roads, The statements opened a wide debate about the extent to which this step could save fuel inside the stations and combat its smuggling.

The minister’s statements came after his meeting with transport truck drivers, who went on strike due to the lack of fuel, and the imposition of royalties and taxes on them outside the scope of the law, along the coastal road, which Trabelsi confirmed that his ministry will work to combat during the coming period.

Over the past few days, truck drivers have announced that they will stop working permanently, until fuel is available at stations, and the fees imposed arbitrarily at some transit gates are cancelled.

-Gallons will not prevent smuggling
Observers believed that combating sales outside stations, although it would reduce the volume of smuggled fuel sold on the black market, would not eliminate the problem of fuel shortages that the country suffers from, due to ongoing smuggling operations.

These expectations come in light of the growing fuel smuggling operations from the country by land and sea, which means that illegal sales within the local market are not the biggest problem causing the fuel shortage. The crisis occurs mainly due to systematic smuggling operations, which are carried out to transport subsidized Libyan fuel. Outside Libyan territory.

-40% of Libyan fuel is smuggled

Earlier estimates by the Libyan Oil Corporation revealed that approximately 40% of the fuel refined locally or imported from abroad is smuggled abroad or exposed to theft.

A research study conducted by the Future Center for Research and Studies observed that fuel smuggling operations do not occur randomly, or through retailers who take it from stations to sell it on the roads, but rather the process is at the hands of organized gangs, with whom random groups may cooperate, as these networks manage a complex smuggling operation. Libyan fuel is transported to European countries via Al-Bajr, while other gangs transport it to sub-Saharan countries.

The study confirmed that this includes workers at fuel distribution stations, distributors and drivers with deep knowledge of geography.

-Huge losses to the national economy

The Libyan state lost at least $750 million annually as a result of fuel smuggling activities, according to international estimates, and the fuel subsidy item in the state’s general budget exceeded $12 billion in 2022, an increase of $5 billion compared to In 2021.

On the other hand, the price of fuel in Libya is one of the cheapest on the African continent, as the state bears a large portion of its price, which prompted the national government recently to talk about lifting subsidies on it, amid widespread popular rejection of this step. (Libyan News Benghazi) S.H.

You can also read the news in the source from the Libyan News Agency