Libya has in the past appealed to Italy, Germany and the US to send firefighters after several attacks on oil storage tanks. (File photo: Reuters)
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 forces led by Khalifa Haftar started a campaign with ground and air forces to take the capital Tripoli.
“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 west of Tripoli near the Tunisian border.
