Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah has ordered state-owned Libyan Iron and Steel Company (Lisco) to halt its production operations due to the country's worsening electricity shortages, according to local media reports citing state-owned Alwataniya TV.
Under the instruction, the Misrata-based steelmaker will suspend its production lines and connect its captive power plant to Libya's national grid, helping ease pressure on electricity supplies during the current period of high demand. No timetable has been announced for the resumption of steel production.
Libya has been facing a severe power crisis amid elevated temperatures, with outages in major cities reportedly lasting as long as 10 hours per day and triggering protests over deteriorating public services.
Lisco is Libya's largest steel producer and one of the country's few non-energy companies maintaining export operations. The company has an annual design capacity of 1.7 million mt of liquid steel and produces long and flat steel products, semis and hot briquetted iron.
