FILE PHOTO: German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and his Norwegian counterpart Ine Marie Eriksen Soreide (not pictured) hold a joint news conference, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, at the foreign ministry guest house Villa Borsig in Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2020. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/Pool
CAIRO (Reuters) – Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stressed the need for an immediate end to the blockade of oil facilities in Libya at a meeting in Tripoli on Monday.
NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla met Maas and they discussed the economic and environmental damage of the blockade, NOC said in a statement. Maas stressed “the need for immediate end to the blockade and Germany’s support for NOC’s efforts to restore production,” the statement said.
Factions loyal to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar began the blockade of oil terminals and fields on Jan. 18, gradually reducing national output to less than 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) from around 1.2 million bpd.
Reporting By Nayera Abdallah; editing by Grant McCool