Exclusive: Al-Shalwi: “Discussion of the “Welfare” Budgets at the National Oil Corporation Should Be Free from Partisanship”

Oil and economic expert Abdelmonsef Al-Shalwi told our source exclusively that the figures disclosed by the National Oil Corporation should be discussed without taking sides, whether through absolute defense or predetermined condemnation.

He noted that, as someone who comes from the sector and has spent nearly four decades working within it, what matters to him is that the truth reaches the public as it is: through the figures, the nature of the expenditure, the entity that spent it, what work and production it corresponds to, and under clear oversight.

Al-Shalwi explained in a statement to Sada Economic Newspaper that, according to the published data, the approved operating budget for the Corporation, its companies, centers, institutes, and affiliated entities for 2026 amounts to LYD 12.6 billion, while only LYD 2 billion has been released as an initial payment, representing approximately 15.9% of the total approved annual budget.

Of this initial payment, actual expenditure as of the date of disclosure amounted to approximately LYD 1.701 billion, or around 85% of the initial payment, while LYD 298.751 million remained under spending procedures.

He added that characterizing the entire LYD 1.7 billion as “welfare expenditure” is not consistent, in his assessment, with an accounting reading of the published data. He explained that the amount represents expenditures distributed across oil companies, production sites, maintenance operations, and technical, medical, and training centers, rather than a single category of administrative or social spending.

Al-Shalwi pointed out that actual operating production expenses amounted to LYD 458.142 million, while routine oil-well maintenance amounted to LYD 354.433 million. These two items alone therefore accounted for LYD 812.575 million.

In addition, LYD 93.206 million was spent on maintenance, LYD 100.843 million on insurance, LYD 123.056 million on rentals related to equipment, drilling rigs, facilities, and sites, and LYD 109.901 million on professional and technical services.

Al-Shalwi noted that there is an important technical detail that deserves clarification to make the language of disclosure more precise. He explained that the 55.3% figure shown in the infographic represents approximately the share of the initial payment allocated to production expenses and well maintenance.

Meanwhile, the actual expenditure on these two items, amounting to LYD 812.575 million, represents approximately 47.8% of the total LYD 1.701 billion actually spent, or approximately 50.2% of direct operating expenditures when the expenses of centers and affiliated entities are excluded.

He stressed that this is not a substantive disagreement, but rather an important accounting distinction between the amount allocated and the amount actually spent. He considered that future disclosures should make this distinction clearer.

Regarding the items circulated under the label of “welfare,” he explained that LYD 26.618 million was spent on domestic training and LYD 46.896 million on external training, while conferences, exhibitions, workshops, and official assignments accounted for LYD 18.040 million.

The total of these three items amounts to only approximately LYD 91.6 million, equivalent to around 5.4% of the total actual expenditure of LYD 1.701 billion.

He added that even when the LYD 121.067 million allocated for employee benefits is included, the total reaches approximately LYD 212.6 million, rather than LYD 1.7 billion.

Al-Shalwi stressed that this does not mean that any of these expenditure items should be exempt from accountability. He said that Libyans have the right to ask: Why was it spent? Who benefited? What was the return? And was the cost appropriate?

He pointed out that there is a major difference between reviewing and rationalizing spending efficiency and describing the entire operating expenditure of a sector that produces the country’s primary resource as welfare spending.

Oversight

Regarding oversight, he said that the statement indicates more than one level of control, including an approved budget and allocation to specific expenditure categories, review by the government committee tasked with monitoring budget implementation, and documentary and financial procedures prior to spending.

This is followed by the submission of a detailed expenditure report to the Audit Bureau for examination and review. He emphasized that these represent important stages of prior, concurrent, and subsequent oversight.

At the same time, he said he does not believe that the mere existence of these procedures should bring the discussion to an end.

He explained that genuine oversight is measured by its results, not by the number of entities through which documents pass. Going forward, disclosure should evolve into periodic comparisons between the approved, allocated, released, spent, committed, and pending amounts.

Expenditures should also be linked to clear indicators such as production levels, the number of wells maintained, downtime rates, cost per barrel, and readiness and safety levels.

He also noted that it would be useful to address some technical observations in the published tables. The clearer the accounting relationship between “spent,” “under procedure,” and “completion rate” at the level of each company, the stronger the disclosure will be and the less room there will be for conflicting interpretations.

Al-Shalwi stressed that he does not support being drawn into what circulates on social media pages, and that it does not matter to him whether certain campaigns are spontaneous or organized as much as it matters to establish the facts for citizens.

In his view, the best response to any doubts is not to engage in a media dispute, but rather to provide more data that can be verified, compared, and traced.

He added that publishing these details in the first place opens the door to discussion and review. He said the purpose is not to compare the National Oil Corporation with any other institution, but he hopes that periodic disclosure of how public funds are used will become a consistent practice across all state institutions.

Al-Shalwi concluded by saying that oil is the wealth that finances the Libyan economy, and financing the operation and maintenance of its fields is not a luxury.

At the same time, every dinar spent on it is public money that must be subject to transparency, governance, and accountability.

He emphasized that this balance—providing sufficient financing for the productive wealth of the country while maintaining strict oversight over how that financing is spent—is what everyone should defend, rather than defending individuals or administrations.