TRIPOLI, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Libya's state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Wednesday warned of a severe drop in oil production in the next nine months "if the government continues to withhold already approved budgets."
"If the corporation's allocations are not released without delay, Libyan oil production will be hundreds of thousands of barrels per day lower than it should be. That will have an extremely negative effect on national income," said NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla in a statement.
The oil sector, the country's main source of income, has suffered tremendously due to armed attacks on its oil fields and ports.
Libya has been mired in violence and political instability ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's government in 2011.
Since early April, the government has been engaged in a deadly armed conflict in and around Tripoli against the east-based rebel army, which has been trying to take over the city and overthrow the government.
