Bitter dispute flares sup between Algerian and Libyan oil companies on the borders

Algerian engineers recently clashed with workers from a Libyan oil company on the borders of the two countries following an acrimonious dispute concerning limits’ trespassing in the oil drilling and prospecting zones, reliable sources revealed.

• Libyan frontiers’ guards alongside the company’s workers moved to the Algeria oil company’s drilling bloc and summoned its manager to stop pumping the “black gold” arguing that the drill, which uses the “horizontal drilling technique”, went beyond the Algerian borders and stretched to the Libyan ones.
• The same sources added that the new drilling bloc belong to the Algerian oil company “Sonatrach” and is located a few kilometres away from the Algeria-Libya borders which sparking anger from the Libyan side.
• Three Algerian workers including an engineer tried to convince their Libyan counterparts that they were acting legally because oil is located under Algerian soil, while the Algerian authorities called on their Libyan counterparts to intervene to put an end to the dispute.
• For its part, the Algerian oil and gas company sent a delegation on spot to ease the tension and investigate the causes behind this conflict considered as the first of its kind between the two countries. The company’s general manager reported the incident to the Algerian energy and mines minister Chakib Khellil who is seriously folowing up the case.