Category: Libya

Libya has seen "good intentions" at indirect talks with eastern rebels which might lead to the lifting of their blockage of major oil ports within days, acting oil minister Omar Shakmak said on Thursday. Hopes have been building in oil markets that an eight-month blockage of major oil exports ports will end ever since rebels and the government said they were close to an agreement. Any deal will help the OPEC member halt its slide into instability as the weak central government has seemed unable to control militias who helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their guns and made political demands on the state. "There are good intentions," Shakmak told reporters in the eastern city of Benghazi, adding that tribal leaders and local leaders were working hard to negotiate with the port rebels. He did not elaborate. The government also gave no update, […]

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Libya has seen "good intentions" at indirect talks with eastern rebels which might lead to the lifting of their blockage of major oil ports within days, acting oil minister Omar Shakmak said on Thursday. Hopes have been building in oil markets that an eight-month blockage of major oil exports ports will end ever since rebels and the government said they were close to an agreement. Any deal will help the OPEC member halt its slide into instability as the weak central government has seemed unable to control militias who helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their guns and made political demands on the state. "There are good intentions," Shakmak told reporters in the eastern city of Benghazi, adding that tribal leaders and local leaders were working hard to negotiate with the port rebels. He did not elaborate. The government also gave no update, […]

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Russian state-controlled oil company Tatneft said it’s planning to resume operations in Libya, which were idled at the onset of the Libyan revolution in 2011. Tatneft in February 2011 suspended geological exploration in Libya as civil war began. Staff were returned in February 2013, but later pulled out of the country following an October 2013 attack on the Russian embassy in Tripoli. The company, in its latest financial report, said it’s been working since last year to return to work in Libya. "Starting in February 2013 the group has been working to resume operations in Libya, including returning staff to Tripoli and continuing supplier negotiations," the company said . "The group expects to re-launch its operations in Libya in 2014." Tatneft’s Libyan subsidiary operates in central Libya through a bilateral exploration and production sharing agreement with the National Oil Corp. of Libya. Internal conflicts have […]

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Russian state-controlled oil company Tatneft said it’s planning to resume operations in Libya, which were idled at the onset of the Libyan revolution in 2011. Tatneft in February 2011 suspended geological exploration in Libya as civil war began. Staff were returned in February 2013, but later pulled out of the country following an October 2013 attack on the Russian embassy in Tripoli. The company, in its latest financial report, said it’s been working since last year to return to work in Libya. "Starting in February 2013 the group has been working to resume operations in Libya, including returning staff to Tripoli and continuing supplier negotiations," the company said . "The group expects to re-launch its operations in Libya in 2014." Tatneft’s Libyan subsidiary operates in central Libya through a bilateral exploration and production sharing agreement with the National Oil Corp. of Libya. Internal conflicts have […]

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Rebels seeking self-rule in eastern Libya may reach an agreement with the government to restore the nation’s crude exports to full capacity in a month, according to their spokesman. A deal hinges on the central government dropping a threat to attack oil ports under rebel control, said Ali Al-Hasy, spokesman for the self-declared Executive Office for Barqa, or Cyrenaica region. The Barqa group is seeking a share of oil revenue for its region. “The mood is positive, we can see a settlement in a month’s time,” Al-Hasy said in a phone interview from eastern Libya. “If the government withdraws its threat, all will become easy; the oil facilities are in very good shape.” The Barqa rebels, led by former Petroleum Facilities Guards commander Ibrahim Al-Jedran, took control of four of Libya’s nine oil ports in July. Exports halted from the Es Sider, Ras Lanuf, Zueitina and Hariga facilities. The […]

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Political conflict in Libya means an economy that’s largely dependent on oil production has no room to grow, the European Union said. A progress report on Libya from the European Commission said a blockade on oil exports by eastern federalists has "severely" affected Libya’s fiscal situation. The report, published Thursday, said the closure of eastern export terminals has cut Libyan oil production from a pre-war level of 1.6 million barrels per day to around 250,000 bpd. With an economy that relies on the petroleum sector for 90 percent of its revenue and more than 70 percent of gross domestic product, the security situation was directly responsible for economic stagnation. "The lack of security has a negative impact on business climate," the progress report said . "With the security situation featuring so prominently on the agenda, thus far little attention has been paid to the diversification of the economy and […]

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Political conflict in Libya means an economy that’s largely dependent on oil production has no room to grow, the European Union said. A progress report on Libya from the European Commission said a blockade on oil exports by eastern federalists has "severely" affected Libya’s fiscal situation. The report, published Thursday, said the closure of eastern export terminals has cut Libyan oil production from a pre-war level of 1.6 million barrels per day to around 250,000 bpd. With an economy that relies on the petroleum sector for 90 percent of its revenue and more than 70 percent of gross domestic product, the security situation was directly responsible for economic stagnation. "The lack of security has a negative impact on business climate," the progress report said . "With the security situation featuring so prominently on the agenda, thus far little attention has been paid to the diversification of the economy and […]

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Libya ’s oil production plunged to the lowest in about six months after protesters seeking jobs and development projects halted a western oilfield run by Eni Spa. (ENI) Demonstrators forced the Elephant field to halt today, cutting the nation’s production to 150,000 barrels a day from 230,000 barrels yesterday, Mohamed Elharari, a spokesman for National Oil Corp., said by phone from Tripoli. Paolo Scaroni, Eni’s chief executive officer, met with Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah Theni today to discuss increasing production in the North African country. Protesters in the Western Mountain range, south west of the capital Tripoli, shut a valve on a pipeline that carries crude from Elephant to the Mellitah oil export terminal, Elharari said. The disruption is compounding a rebellion in the east, depriving the country from most of its oil production. Curtailed Libyan supply has bouyed the price of Europe ’s Brent crude this year, according […]

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The crew of a renegade oil tanker seized by the U.S. Navy and handed over to Libya has been released and will be deported, a Libyan investigator said Monday. Al-Sadik al-Sour, the head investigator for Libya’s prosecutor general, did not give the nationality of the 21 crew members. He said they were referred to border police Monday to send them out of the country. Three eastern Libya militia members who were aboard the vessel will be detained for 14 days to be interrogated by prosecutors over their role in the saga. Al-Sour said investigations revealed that the crew members were working at gunpoint, according to witnesses interrogated at the militia-held eastern port where the vessel was loaded with an estimated 350,000 barrels of oil. The ship remains in Tripoli and is due to be unloaded in the port of Zawiya refinery, 40 kilometers (25 miles) […]

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BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels occupying oil ports clashed with troops on Saturday after attacking an army base where reinforcements were preparing for an offensive to break the blockade, local residents said. Anti-aircraft gunfire and explosions were heard late at night and again after dawn on Saturday in Ajdabiya, the hometown of rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran, whose fighters seized three ports in summer to demand a greater share in Libya’s oil wealth. Fighting broke out just hours before the return to Libya of an oil tanker seized on Sunday by U.S. commandos in the Mediterranean after it had loaded crude at one of the ports Jathran’s men have occupied. The Morning Glory, once a North Korean-flagged vessel, was expected to arrive on Saturday in Libya under U.S. Navy escort and dock at Zawiya, one of the country’s key ports under government control. There was no immediate confirmation from […]

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