Libya’s official government, operating out of hotels in the east after being driven from the capital, is unlikely to succeed in plans announced last week to divert the country’s oil export income away from Tripoli. Control over oil is at the heart of a struggle between two rival governments who are fighting for territory in the North African OPEC state four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. Both sides field armies of fighters whose salaries are paid with export revenues collected by the National Oil Company (NOC), which continues to operate out of Tripoli and sell oil abroad even though the capital is in the hands of a faction whose legitimacy is not recognized by the international buyers. Last week, the internationally recognized government, which runs an eastern rump state since fleeing the capital last year, said it wanted all oil exports to be paid […]