Category: Libya

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s foreign minister has called for an international push to disband militias in neighboring Libya, where weeks of inter-militia fighting has wreaked havoc in the country. Sameh Shukri says the escalation of violence in oil-rich Libya poses a threat to the entire region. He is calling for a joint effort to disband all militias, "without exception." The Egyptian top diplomat spoke Monday at a Cairo gathering of Libya’s neighbors. It was attended by Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan and Chad. The meeting comes as Islamist-led militias in the Libyan capital say they consolidated their hold on Tripoli and its international airport, driving out rivals to the city’s outskirts after battles that largely destroyed the strategic hub. It’s the worst violence in Libya since the 2011 downfall and killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

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Smoke fills the sky over Tripoli after fighting between Dawn of Libya and rival militias Aug. 23, 2014. European Pressphoto Agency Libya’s Islamist militias said Sunday they have consolidated their hold on Tripoli and its international airport, driving out rival militias to the outskirts of the capital after a weeks-long battle for control of the strategic hub. The umbrella group for Islamist militias, calling itself Dawn of Libya, said it has also taken hold of other locations in the capital that were controlled by rival militias. The move draws to a close one chapter in a prolonged confrontation between the Islamist-allied militia, largely from the city of Misrata, and the powerful militia from the western mountains of Zintan. The fight has largely destroyed the airport and scarred the capital, prompting diplomats, foreign nationals and thousands of Libyans to flee. The violence in Libya is rooted in the empowerment of […]

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TRIPOLI, Libya — “The fire is inside the airport!” a militiaman cried, as he fired an antiaircraft cannon on the back of a pickup truck toward the runway of Libya’s main international airport. “God is great, the flames are rising!” “Intensify the shooting,” responded his commander, Salah Badi, an ultraconservative Islamist and former lawmaker from the coastal city of Misurata. Captured on video by the proud attackers just one month ago, Mr. Badi’s assault on Libya’s main international airport has now drawn the country’s fractious militias, tribes and towns into a single national conflagration that threatens to become a prolonged civil war. Both sides see the fight as part of a larger regional struggle, fraught with the risks of a return to repressive authoritarianism or a slide toward Islamist extremism. Three years after the NATO-backed ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the violence threatens to turn Libya into a pocket […]

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A view of the anchorage at the Es Sider export terminal in Ras Lanuf, west of Benghazi in March, 2014. Reuters LONDON—Libya said Wednesday it was resuming oil exports from its largest terminal after a year-long stoppage, as its oil industry manages to recover despite intense fighting in large cities. But new uncertainty emerged later in the day as Libya’s de facto oil minister said he was being replaced. Italian tanker Maria Bottiglieri, which arrived overnight, is set to leave later Wednesday from the Es Sider terminal with about 600,000 barrels on board, Mohamed el-Harari, a spokesman for the state-owned National Oil Co. told The Wall Street Journal. Mr. el-Harari said the vessel was chartered by Austria’s OMG AG and is bound for the Italian port of Trieste, confirming information from shipping and oil managers. The terminal, which has an export capacity of 350,000 barrels a day, hasn’t shipped […]

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A view of the anchorage at the Es Sider export terminal in Ras Lanuf, west of Benghazi in March, 2014. Reuters LONDON—Libya said Wednesday it was resuming oil exports from its largest terminal after a year-long stoppage, as its oil industry manages to recover despite intense fighting in large cities. But new uncertainty emerged later in the day as Libya’s de facto oil minister said he was being replaced. Italian tanker Maria Bottiglieri, which arrived overnight, is set to leave later Wednesday from the Es Sider terminal with about 600,000 barrels on board, Mohamed el-Harari, a spokesman for the state-owned National Oil Co. told The Wall Street Journal. Mr. el-Harari said the vessel was chartered by Austria’s OMG AG and is bound for the Italian port of Trieste, confirming information from shipping and oil managers. The terminal, which has an export capacity of 350,000 barrels a day, hasn’t shipped […]

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LONDON—Libya’s production has jumped to 550,000 barrels a day, state-owned National Oil Co. said Monday, as production ramps up at fields across the country . The recovery of Libya’s oil sector is in contrast with continuous fighting between militias in the capital of Tripoli—which is far from Libyan oil fields. NOC spokesman Mohamed el-Harari said Libya is now producing 550,000 barrels a day, compared with 400,000 barrels a day last week. The number remains less than half the country’s production capacity of about 1.6 million barrels a day. Mr. el-Harari said the increase was due to a ramp up in production, including in Sharara—the largest field in the country located in Western Libya—and Misla and Sarir; two large fields in the east. The news follows last Wednesday’s resumption of exports by the key eastern terminal of Ras Lanuf after a year-long interruption. Libya’s largest oil port, Es Sider, is […]

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CAIRO—Libya plans to restart exports from its largest oil port Es Sider next week after a one-year interruption, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. The news, which comes after shipments restarted this week from another key terminal, Ras Lanuf, shows Libyan oil exports are set to gain momentum after a slower-than-expected restart. On July 1, rebels who had occupied Ras Lanuf and Es Sider in Eastern Libya for nearly a year agreed to let oil exports resume after a deal with the central government. Despite oil prices falling by $5 a barrel amid expectations of increased exports, they had not restarted from the two ports until now as Libya struggled to find buyers. But Libya’s state-owned National Oil Co. is planning to restart exports at the Es Sider port, which can load 340,000 barrels a day, next week, according to people familiar with the matter. The first 600,000 […]

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Libya loaded the first oil cargo from the port of Ras Lanuf since it was closed by rebels a year ago, just as the International Energy Agency said the North African nation is struggling to find buyers in an oversupplied market. A tanker will soon leave port with 680,000 barrels of crude and head to Italy , Ibrahim Al-Awami, the Oil Ministry’s Director of Measurement, said by phone today from Tripoli. While state-run National Oil Corp. plans to double exports this month, crude traders are more concerned that the additional supply will depress prices than the risk of production being disrupted by further unrest, the IEA said. “Even though you have fighting in Tripoli, Libya seems to be able to provide volumes higher than the previous month’s,” Alexander Poegl, an analyst at JBC Energy GmbH in Vienna, said by phone. “Libya is one piece among a lot of pieces […]

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Libyan oil production is at its highest level since the beginning of the year, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Friday. OPEC said in its latest monthly market report crude oil production from member states averaged 29.9 million barrels per day. Production fell primarily in member states Iraq and Angola, while production increased from Libya and Saudi Arabia. Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington his government "has managed to solve" the oil crisis plaguing what was once one of North Africa’s top oil producers. OPEC said in its market report Libyan crude oil production has doubled since June. "Libyan production rose past 500,000 barrels per day for the first time since January," the report said. OPEC data show Libyan crude oil production reached a post-war peak of around 1.4 million bpd in 2013, before starting a precipitous decline toward the […]

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A huge pall of smoke rises on the horizon after rockets fired by one of Libya’s militias struck and ignited a tank in the capital’s main fuel depot, in Tripoli, Libya, on Saturday, Aug. 2. European Pressphoto Agency A huge fire at Libya’s main fuel depot in the capital Tripoli is now under control, but the facility still faces real risks as militias continue to clash in the battle-torn nation, a spokesperson for the National Oil Corp., or NOC, said Wednesday The blaze was ignited near Tripoli airport Saturday when a missile strike from one of the militias fighting in Libya hit the depot, which contains 90 million liters (almost 24 million gallons) of fuel and cooking gas. "Eight fuel tanks were ablaze, but the situation is now under control and firefighters are watching closely to make sure that the fire doesn’t spread to other tanks," NOC spokesman Mohamed […]

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