Tripoli— Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) has denied on Wednesday reports that its headquarters were stormed by an armed group saying in a statement that those reports were “completely false” and what happened was merely a “personal dispute” in the reception area that was resolved.
“NOC clarifies that what happened was nothing more than a limited personal dispute that occurred in the reception area and was immediately resolved by administrative security personnel without any impact on the corporation’s workflow,” the statement which was also republished by the Government of National Unity (GNU) on its Facebook platform.
According to NOC, “while the corporation categorically denies these rumors, it calls on the media to exercise accuracy and professionalism and to rely on official sources when reporting news, especially when the news concerns sovereign facilities that represent the backbone of the national economy.”
Meanwhile, the Parliament-appointed government in eastern Libya called on the Attorney General’s Office to open a “comprehensive investigation” into NOC’s incident and arrest the attackers. It threatened, according to a statement, to take precautionary measures, including declaring force majeure. It also condemned what it called an “attack on the office of NOC’s Chairman of the Board of Directors.”
NOC stressed that its operations were normal and it was commitment to providing a safe and organized work environment for all employees.
Earlier on Wednesday, Al-Wasat newspaper said a source within NOC informed it that an armed group stormed the headquarters in the afternoon and took control of parts of the buidling.
“According to the source, the gunmen, who call themselves the “Control Unit,” were positioned on the fifth floor of the main building. He explained that their storming of the headquarters caused panic and confusion among employees, a large number of whom left their offices amid fears of potential security developments,” Al-Wasat said.
NOC has been a subject of intimidations in the past. On 14 July 2022, NOC announced that an armed group, accompanied by a number of civilians and masked individuals, had forcibly entered the main building and assaulted some employees, physically and verbally, according to a video it published at the time.
On 10 September 2018, a major terrorist attack on NOC headquarters involved at least six perpetrators killing two NOC officials and wounding 10 more.
The armed men stormed the building and engaged guards in a deadly gun battle that coincided with a large blast resulting from a suicide attack after the attackers as they went in through the lower floors, according to the Interior Ministry.