A storehouse belonging to Libya’s Mellitah Oil & Gas, a joint-venture between the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and Italy’s ENI, was damaged in an air strike on Tuesday, wounding three workers, the state oil firm said in a statement.
It was the first confirmed attack on a foreign oil asset since eastern forces led by Khalifa Haftar started a campaign with ground and air forces to take the capital Tripoli, held by the internationally recognized government.
“We are witnessing the destruction of the corporation’s facilities before our eyes,” NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla said after the incident.
NOC said “material losses” were significant but did not say what had been inside the warehouse in Tajoura, an eastern suburb of Tripoli home to several military barracks.
Mellitah exports oil and gas through a port some 100 km (62 miles) west of Tripoli near the Tunisian border.
