TRIPOLI, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed government on Tuesday warned against "negative repercussions" of stopping oil exports in the oil crescent region by the eastern-based army.
"Stoppage of oil exports costs more than 67 million U.S. dollars a day," Mohamed Al-Sallak, spokesman of the government, told a press conference in Tripoli.
"Negative repercussions of stoppage of oil exports in the oil crescent region affect provision of goods and obligations of the state, and also damage the oil facilities and installations," Al-Sallak said.
Halting Libyan exports causes heavy losses to the national economy, affecting all aspects of life and hindering the path of consensus and the outcome of the Paris Declaration in May, said Al-Sallak, stressing the need to keep the oil away from political tensions.
The National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Sunday said that the army's stoppage of oil production and exports causes daily losses of 67.4 million U.S. dollars.
The Libyan eastern-based army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, recently took control of the oil crescent region, which is located some 500 km east of the capital Tripoli and contains the country's largest oil ports, after defeating terrorist groups and occupying it.
The army then handed over the region to the eastern-based interim government, instead of the Tripoli-based UN-backed unity government.
Despite signing a UN-sponsored peace agreement by the Libyan political parties in 2015, Libya remains politically divided between eastern and western governments, both competing for legitimacy.
Oil-rich Libya has been plagued by insecurity and chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
