The general secretary of the Base Syndicate of the Tunisian Petroleum Activities Company (ETAP), Kais Bejaoui, indicated that the unpaid debts of public enterprises, in particular STEG and STIR, towards ETAP exceeded 1.7 billion of dinars.
He emphasized the difficult financial situation of ETAP in light of the non-payment of its due, hence its inability to honour its financial commitments to its foreign partners, as well as to the State. , he explained in a statement to the TAP agency.
Bejaoui reports, in this regard, that the finance ministry seized ETAP’s bank accounts.
According to him, previous governments are responsible for the difficulties the company is going through, specifying that the current situation is the result of the governments’ stammering policies, given the lack of responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and the inability of the presidency of the Government to identify solutions, in particular to inject funds into indebted public enterprises, in order to see them come out of their financial crisis.
He thus spoke of the need to implement the recommendations of the national energy dialogue, held in June 2019, and to establish ETAP as the national operator of the oil and gas fields, by simplifying legal procedures and providing the technical and human resources.
Bejaoui recommended to all actors in the oil and gas sector not to deceive public opinion any longer and to point the finger at ETAP concerning the social conditions in the governorate of Tataouine and the stopping of oil and gas production in El Kamour, recalling that the region has benefited, within the framework of social responsibility, from more than 70 million dinars since 2015.
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