Category: Libya

Libyan fighting spills over to ensnare electric grid, leaving parts of the country in the dark.. UPI/Amru Taha TRIPOLI, Libya, Jan. 2 (UPI) — Power shortages that came as a result of fighting in and around the Libyan port city of Ras Lanuf are expected to continue, an electric company said. Two power plants that combine to produce about 500 megawatts of power are down because of fighting in the region, the General Electric Company of Libya said. The restive city of Benghazi this week suffered a full-scale power outage because of poor weather conditions and the electric company said much of western Libya can expect power outages to endure. Power shortages have been chronic since civil war ended in late 2011. Lingering fighting, which has escalated in recent weeks, has pushed the country to the brink of full-scale war, the U.N. Support Mission in Libya warned. In the […]

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Singapore released oil spill response resources after two tankers collided near busy port. UPI/A.J. Sisco.. SINGAPORE, Jan. 2 (UPI) — Maritime authorities in Singapore said Friday they deployed air surveillance teams to investigate oil spilled after two tankers collided off its coast. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said the Libyan-registered Alyarmouk collided with the Singapore carrier Sinar Kapuas in its territorial waters. "Alyarmouk reported that one of her cargo tanks sustained damage, resulting in spillage of crude oil," the port authority said in a statement. "Upon notification, MPA deployed a helicopter to assess the situation." Latest maritime traffic data show the Libyan crude oil tanker was slated to arrive in China to unload its cargo by early next week. No information was immediately available regarding the amount of oil loaded on the tanker. Maritime authorities said resources designated to respond to an oil spill have been deployed […]

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Libyan oil production has fallen below 300,000 barrels a day after Islamist militants shifted attacks to energy facilities including the country’s largest oil export terminal, said Energy Aspects Ltd. Output is the lowest since May and down at least 65 percent from a recent high of 850,000 barrels a day in October following the assault on the Es Sider terminal, according to the Energy Aspects estimate. Libya holds Africa ’s largest oil reserves. The fighting last week marked a turning point in the unrest that followed Muammar Qaddafi’s 42-year rule, according to Energy Aspects and Eurasia Group consultants. All the factions, including the Islamist militia coalition known as Libya Dawn, had committed to spare the energy industry that provides 80 percent of public spending. “The latest phase in fighting is a serious development as Libya Dawn is now trying to gain control of oil facilities, which up to now […]

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German energy company Wintershall suspends operations in Libya amid escalation of fighting near oil export terminals. UPI/Mohamaad Hosam TRIPOLI, Libya, Dec. 30 (UPI) — With fighting ongoing in and around Libya oil export facilities, German energy company Wintershall said it had to suspend operations until further notice. "Wintershall traditionally transports oil produced in the Libyan desert to the export facilities in the coastal towns of Ras-Lanuf and Zuetina," the German company said in a Monday statement. "Wintershall does not deliver oil to Es Sider, where export facilities are on fire at this time after intense fighting." The U.N. Support Mission in Libya during the weekend called on all parties involved in the fighting to work together to end what it said was a cycle of violence spiraling quickly toward war. Oil storage depots at the Es Sider port caught fire during weekend fighting. Ahmed al-Mismari, a spokesman for the […]

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* Hariga fields still producing -oil official * Fire at Es Sider oil storage site after fighting * Es Sider, Ras Lanuf ports closed * Brega port open but mostly supplying refinery (Adds comment from Conoco in paragraph 5; U.S. firm to help, in paragraph 6) By Ayman al-Warfalli BENGHAZI, Libya, Dec 29 (Reuters) – Libya’s oil output has shrunk further after blazing oil tanks at a major terminal helped push world oil prices higher and put a strain on the country’s dollar currency reserves. Libya is surviving on a mere 128,000 barrels per day from fields connected to the eastern port of Hariga, an oil official said on Monday, while fighting halted the major ports Es Sider and Ras Lanuf. Total oil output, adding offshore fields and Brega output, is about 350,000 bpd – a fraction of the 1.6 million bpd it produced before the 2011 civil war. […]

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Conflict in Libya, more than three years removed from civil war, leaves key oil storage depot in flames. UPITarek Alhuony. TRIPOLI, Libya, Dec. 29 (UPI) — Around $100 million worth of crude oil has gone up in flames as a result of a blaze burning at a tank storage facility in Libya, the government said. Militants with a group calling itself Libya Dawn launched attacks last week on the port of Es Sider, leaving oil storage depots in flames and at least 19 soldiers dead. The state-run National Oil Corp. confirmed as many as five of the 21 tanks storing oil at the site are in flames, which represents about $100 million worth of crude oil . The storage depot is next to the Ras Lanuf terminal, which has suffered several outages as opposing Libyan forces struggle to fill a power vacuum left over when the regime of Moammar […]

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Libyan oil production has fallen below 300,000 barrels a day after Islamist militants shifted attacks to energy facilities including the country’s largest oil export terminal, said Energy Aspects Ltd. Output is the lowest since May and down at least 65 percent from a recent high of 850,000 barrels a day in October following the assault on the Es Sider terminal, according to the Energy Aspects estimate. Libya holds Africa ’s largest oil reserves. The fighting last week marked a turning point in the unrest that followed Muammar Qaddafi’s 42-year rule, according to Energy Aspects and Eurasia Group consultants. All the factions, including the Islamist militia coalition known as Libya Dawn, had committed to spare the energy industry that provides 80 percent of public spending. “The latest phase in fighting is a serious development as Libya Dawn is now trying to gain control of oil facilities, which up to now […]

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ENLARGE Libya has appealed to Italy, Germany and the United States to send firefighters. Reuters Firefighters worked Monday to extinguish a blaze at Libya’s largest oil terminal, where storage tanks have been burning for days amid fighting. The fire at As Sidra terminal in eastern Libya ignited after a rocket hit an oil storage tank. Some 800,000 barrels of crude have been destroyed. Extremist groups are making a renewed push to seize the country’s oil resources, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Dayri said Sunday, according to the Associated Press. He said the assault on eastern oil terminals was carried out by militias based in the western city of Misrata, who are loyal to a rival Islamist-backed government in the capital Tripoli. The internationally recognized government is based in the eastern city of Tobruk. As Sidra is controlled by anti-Islamist militiamen allied with that government. Crude-oil futures prices closed at five-year […]

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Fires were extinguished at three of five Libyan oil tanks that were set ablaze last week after an attack by militants, curbing the threat of 6 million barrels of crude spilling into the Mediterrean Sea. Libyan firefighters extinguished the fires at three tanks at the Es Sider port, Ali al-Hasy, a spokesman for the Petroleum Facilities Guard, said by phone. International assistance is being sought because the fires may lead to environmental damages in the Mediterranean Sea , al-Hasy said. Libya, holder of Africa ’s largest crude reserves, has been in a civil war since 2011 when dictator Muammar Qaddafi was killed after a 42-year rule. The fires at Es Sider started on Dec. 25 after Libya’s oil guard gave Islmatist militias an ultimatum before air strikes and the Islamists fought back with rockets. Brent oil rose 0.6 percent today to $59.82 a barrel amid speculation that the conflict […]

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Libya ’s government struck from the air at Islamist militias it said shelled the country’s largest oil port today, according to the military unit in charge of protecting export terminals. The strike comes two days after the Petroleum Facilities Guard gave the militias 72 hours to return to Misrata, their main stronghold, to avoid the airstrikes after an earlier attack on the Es Sider terminal. “We decided to order attacks from the air without waiting after the rocket attack on Es Sider,” Ali al-Hasy, a spokesman for unit, said by phone from the port, where loading was halted Dec. 13 after a first round of clashes. Aircraft belonging to the internationally recognized government of Abdullah al-Thinni attacked the artillery unit that fired on the port and bombed positions in Misrata and along the front line in Bin Jawad, 35 kilometers west of Es Sider, he said. The self-proclaimed government […]

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