Striking oil workers in Tripoli have tense exchange with head of Oil Directorate

BEIRUT – Workers and contractors from Tripoli’s oil facilities, who have been on strike since Wednesday, held a sit-in Friday at their workplace, according to our correspondent in the area, who reported tense moments during a verbal exchange between the workers and the head of the Oil Directorate, Aurore Feghali.

Here’s what we know:

    • The tense exchange between the strikers and Feghali took place at the entrance to one facility. Strikers demanded wage increases and back payments. They asked Energy Minister Walid Fayad to “keep his promises” to them.

    • The Tripoli Oil Installation, along with its Zahrani counterpart, are the main destinations for state-supervised fuel imports.

    • The striking employees announced on Wednesday “the suspension of work in all sections of Tripoli's oil facilities” and the halt “of fuel oil deliveries, the work of technicians and maintenance of tanks and the Arab gas pipeline.”

    • Strikers said that this decision comes after many “unsuccessful” discussions with the Energy Minister who refused to increase their salaries.