Category: Libya

The disruption of Libyan crude exports worsened as rebels shut down a recently re-opened oil port after protesting over the appointment of the country’s new prime minister. Petroleum Facilities Guards members aligned with federalist rebels stopped loadings at the Hariga oil port in eastern Libya , Oil Ministry Director of Measurement Ibrahim Al Awami said by telephone from Tripoli. The guard has also banned flights operated by state-run National Oil Corp. to Zueitina, another oil port in the east, he said. The eastern rebels’ leader Ibrahim Al-Jedran “seems to have given instructions for this protest to happen because he’s unhappy with the new government,” Awami said. The loss of Libyan oil production, down about 90 percent from its pre-conflict level, has boosted the price of Brent, the benchmark for half the world’s traded crude. On May 21, Citigroup raised its 2014 Brent price forecast to $109 a barrel, from […]

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Libyan crude exports may be disrupted further by a dispute over the appointment of a new prime minister or attacks against oil infrastructure by Islamists, a retired general leading the fight against militant groups said. Separatist rebels objecting to Ahmed Maiteg’s appointment as prime minister may reoccupy Zueitina and Hariga, two oil export terminals returned to government control last month, Colonel Mohammad Hijazi, a spokesman for General Khalifa Haftar’s self-proclaimed National Army, said today. Haftar respects the rebels’ demand for more autonomy for ’s regions, Hijazi said. “The crisis is worsening and it’s a possibility that the two oil ports that have re-opened close again,” Hijazi said by phone from Tripoli. Extremist groups Haftar is fighting in the east “could attack anything, including the oil facilities,” he said. The loss of Libyan oil production, down about 90 percent from its pre-conflict level, has boosted the price of Brent, the […]

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Repsol SA and SA are among the western oil companies pulling out some expatriate employees from Libya amid escalating violence there, posing the latest challenge to the Libyan oil industry’s fragile recovery. "We have reduced our presence in Tripoli, which was already limited, to the minimum," a Total spokesman said Wednesday, adding the French company isn’t pulling out of Libya. Spain’s Repsol is also withdrawing some expatriate staff, according to people at the company. Repsol wouldn’t discuss the details of personnel movements for security reasons. Last week, renegade Libyan general Khalifa Hifter launched an armed campaign against Islamist-backed militia in Libya. Mr. Hifter says the offensive is aimed at imposing stability after three years of chaos since the ouster and death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Strikes and armed occupation of oil terminals have already reduced the Libya’s oil output to less than a fifth of […]

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A Libyan general who has led a violent campaign against Islamist militias and lawmakers drew prominent new supporters to his cause on Wednesday, including the country’s air force commander and its ambassador to the United Nations. Libya’s largest non-Islamist political alliance also said in a statement that it was supporting the general, Khalifa Hifter, who began his campaign on Friday by leading an assault on Islamist militias in Benghazi. What began as a fairly isolated attack against Islamist bases in one corner of the country appears to be growing into a national political movement. General Hifter has won support from a disparate band of allies, including some Libyans angered by the outsize influence of militias, which have been accused of assassinations and other political violence. The fledgling government has been powerless to exert its authority over the militias or other influential figures, including regional leaders and […]

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Libyan ex-general Khalifa Haftar vowed to pursue his campaign against Islamist militias, emboldened by growing support for the offensive, and said the country’s parliament should be suspended until new elections. In a statement broadcast on national television late yesterday, Haftar promised to “to eradicate terrorism and extremist groups,” which he blames for the growing chaos in the oil-rich North African country three years after the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi . The ex-general’s military initiative against Islamist forces, which he launched without approval from Libya’s chain of command, is broadening its support. Air Force chief Colonel Gomaa al-Abbani has pledged to back Haftar’s self-proclaimed Libyan National Army, and it also won the loyalty of at least one other senior military official, some soldiers and militias in cities including Zintan in the west, and others who have controlled eastern ports and blocked oil exports since July. Haftar’s forces have mostly attacked […]

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TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — The top official in Libya’s air forces has announced he’ll back an offensive by a renegade general against Islamic extremists and militias blamed for wave of killings since the downfall of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Col. Gomaa al-Abbani’s announcement late Tuesday is among a series of loyalty pledges made by military units and commanders to Gen. Khalifa Hifter. Militias allied to Hifter launched an attack Sunday against parliament after an offensive his forces led on Friday in the eastern city of Benghazi. Hours after al-Abbani’s announcement, witnesses said rockets targeted military camps in the capital, Tripoli. On Tuesday, Libya’s election commission announced parliamentary elections will be held June 25, a top demand among most Libyans.

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TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libya’s election commission set new parliamentary elections for next month, trying on Tuesday to find a peaceful resolution to a crisis triggered by a renegade general’s efforts to crush Islamist militias and his demand that the Islamist-led legislature disband for allegedly supporting extremism. The announcement of a nationwide June 25 vote came after the parliament met in what lawmakers had hoped would be a secret location. A missile was fired at the hotel where the session was taking place, causing panic but no injuries. The general, Khalifa Hifter, has launched an armed campaign he says is aimed at imposing stability after three years of chaos since the ouster and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. He says he wants to break the power of Islamists, whom he accuses opening the door to Islamic radicals. Hifter denies seeking power but indicated Tuesday that he would […]

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Towns, tribes and armed groups across Libya chose sides on Monday in response to a renegade general’s assault on the country’s Islamist militias and lawmakers. The general, Khalifa Heftar, has threatened to start something like a coup or even a civil war, though it is far from clear he has the power to do so. He has faulted the large Islamist blocs in the transitional Parliament for ineffectiveness and accused them of condoning the militias. In an apparent concession aimed at averting conflict, the interim government on Monday proposed selecting a new prime minister and suspending Parliament until the next election, which has not yet been scheduled. But it was unclear how Parliament might respond, and the proposal did not appear to have much chance of defusing the standoff. Mr. Heftar, 65, is a retired army officer who turned against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi decades ago and […]

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A rogue general in who’s confronting Islamist militias and seeking to shut down the country’s parliament gained support in the east of the country among both soldiers and some separatist groups. Rebels who hold ports in eastern Libya, where they’ve been blocking oil exports since July, expressed support for Khalifa Haftar, the retired military leader who heads a self-proclaimed National Army. Haftar’s stated goal of crushing armed Islamist groups also won backing from a key army commander in the east. As Libya’s government accuses Haftar of attempting a coup, his forces put on a show of strength at both ends of the country, attacking Islamist groups in Benghazi and storming the parliament in Tripoli. The fighting is the latest evidence of the breakdown of authority in the oil-rich north African nation three years after the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi . Conflicts in Libya, where oil production has slid to […]

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