Libya working on oil rebound

TRIPOLI, Libya, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Authorities in the Libyan oil sector are examining ways to address worker grievances without the threat of strike, an executive said.

Libya's National Oil Co. said last week it lifted export restrictions from its Mellita and Zawai terminals.

Banditry and federalist campaigns in parts of Libya have suppressed the country's oil potential. It was producing approximately 1.6 million barrels per day at its peak before civil war in 2011. Production this year nearly ground to a halt but NOC said recently the situation was improving.

A spokesman for Etilaf Musharaka, which the Libya Herald describes as a joint venture between national and international energy companies, said the government was working to address worker grievances.

"We have revised pay scale three times and pegged pay to rig performance and offered private health coverage," he said in statements published by the newspaper Saturday. "We have tried to introduce the new culture to our Libyan staff that they can express a differing opinion without necessarily going on strike."

The United Nations last week called on the Libyan government to address the issue quickly because of the dominance of oil revenue in the national economy.