Libya’s Nationwide Oil Company warns it could halt operations on the nation’s largest working refinery if drone assaults proceed.
Printed On 11 Aug 2026
Firefighters in Libya are battling a large blaze on the Zawiya refinery following a drone assault, with the nation’s nationwide oil firm warning it could declare a pressure majeure and shut down operations if assaults proceed.
Libya’s Ambulance and Emergency Service mentioned in an announcement on Tuesday there have been no “critical accidents” from the fireplace, with most sufferers handled for smoke inhalation.
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Footage verified by Al Jazeera confirmed big flames and thick black smoke billowing over the power, the most important working refinery in Libya with a refining capability of 120,000 barrels per day.
It’s situated about 40km (25 miles) west of the capital, Tripoli.
The Nationwide Oil Company (NOC) mentioned in an announcement on Fb that the fireplace broke out on Monday night at tank quantity 402-T, belonging to the Brega Oil Firm.
It mentioned the tank, which contained about 4.5 million litres (1.2 million gallons) of gasoline, was “straight focused, leading to a extreme fireplace earlier than the tank fully collapsed”.
The NOC mentioned the assault adopted drone strikes on a water desalination plant on the refinery on Sunday and on a naphtha reservoir on Saturday.
The corporate declared a “most emergency” within the area and urged authorities to launch an investigation and convey the perpetrators to justice.
There was no rapid declare of accountability for the assaults, and the corporate did not say who they believed was behind them.
In an announcement hours later, the NOC mentioned the refinery was “nonetheless being topic to sabotage assaults” with a drone concentrating on an oil mixing and filling plant operated by the Zawiya Oil Refining Firm.
It mentioned the drone fell close to its most important oil tank and a pipeline community used to supply oils for the home market, with out inflicting any casualties or injury.
“The corporate’s board of administrators additionally confirms that if these assaults proceed, it must declare a state of pressure majeure and droop operations on the refinery,” it warned.
The Brega Oil Firm, in the meantime, appealed to “all events to cease the preventing and avoid oil services and depots”. It mentioned “oil services are very important infrastructure and owned by all Libyans” and that “defending them is a nationwide accountability that doesn’t tolerate any negligence”.
The assaults spotlight the persevering with safety challenges in Libya, the place rival administrations and armed teams have retained affect regardless of a 2020 ceasefire that halted main warfare. The nation break up in 2014 after a NATO-backed rebellion that toppled longtime chief Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Two governments are presently vying for energy: the United Nations-recognised administration in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and a rival within the east backed by navy commander Khalifa Haftar.
In an announcement, the Tripoli-based authorities mentioned Dbeibah held a gathering earlier within the day with key officers, together with the inside minister and the chiefs of some armed teams within the capital, “to comply with up on the most recent safety developments”.
Dbeibah “harassed the necessity to deal firmly with any transgressions or actions that threaten safety or hurt very important services and installations”, the assertion mentioned.
Individually, a Libyan parliamentary panel condemned the assault and known as for stronger safety of oil installations.
“The Home of Representatives’ Power and Pure Sources Committee condemns within the strongest phrases the felony assault concentrating on the Zawiya Refinery, one of the very important services within the oil and fuel sector that may be a cornerstone of the nationwide economic system,” it mentioned in an announcement.
