Category: Libya

MILAN, Italy, May 26 (UPI) — Italian energy company Eni announced Tuesday it made its second discovery of the year at an exploration prospect off the coast of Libya. Eni said it made a natural gas and condensate discovery in so-called Area 3, a reserve area about 85 miles off the Libyan coast. "The well represents the second discovery made by Eni in Libyan offshore Area D since the beginning of 2015," the company said in a statement. Production tests yielded a preliminary flow rate from the well at 1,340 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Eni estimates the well should be able to produce at least 3,000 boe per day at its peak. Before NATO forces intervened in Libyan civil war in 2011, the country was producing more than 1 million bpd. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in its latest market report said production from member-state Libya […]

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The prime minister of Libya ’s internationally recognized government survived an assassination attempt Tuesday after facing hostile questioning inside Parliament and demands for his resignation from armed protesters outside. The mayhem and violence broke out amid growing signs of divisions in the faction backing the government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni against a rival faction that has taken over the capital, Tripoli. If the conflicts and discord further threaten the stability of Mr. Thinni’s government, the result could cripple the United Nations-brokered talks aimed at bringing the two factions together and could further compound the chaos that has engulfed Libya since the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011. It was unclear who was responsible for the assassination attempt. Armed forces allied with the government, which is based in Tobruk and Bayda, have been battling Islamist militants from Benghazi and Dernah. Last winter, militants hostile […]

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SIRTE, Libya Standing guard at his frontline post, Libyan soldier Mohammed Abu Shager can see where Islamic State militants are holed up with their heavy weaponry less than a kilometer away. The militants have effectively taken over former dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s home city of Sirte as they exploit a civil war between two rival governments to expand in North Africa. "Every night they open fire on us," said Abu Shebar, who with comrades on Sirte’s western outskirts holds the last position of troops belonging to one of the two warring Libyan governments, the General National Congress, which controls the capital Tripoli and most of the west of the country. "They are only active at night," he said, pointing to the militants’ position in a house just down the road blocked by sandbags. He sleeps in a shed next to his firing positions where used tank shells litter the ground. […]

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LONDON—Libyan National Oil Co. officials have launched a charm offensive to reassure foreign companies that are increasingly nervous over the use of oil payments and security arrangements in the war-torn country. The state-run oil company has been caught in the middle of a conflict playing out since the ouster and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, dividing the country between an internationally recognized government in the city of Bayda and an Islamist militia, Libya Dawn, that controls the country’s capital of Tripoli. The industry has also been rattled by attacks by the radical Islamic State, worker strikes and sabotage of oil facilities. Amid the mounting chaos, National Oil Co. and Libyan Central Bank officials have met with international energy companies to assure them that their oil payments are being managed transparently and independently, the company’s chairman, Mustafa Sanallah, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday. “We […]

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LONDON The head of Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) sees higher oil prices and said the company is working to boost output and regain market share taken by other producers. Speaking on a visit to London, NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanallah said he saw signs of oil demand increasing across the globe and a fall in the supply of shale oil in the United States. "There is a general consensus that oil prices will recover. The worst of the market is behind us now," he said on Tuesday at the Platts Global Crude Oil Summit. "It is expected that the oil price will start to rise by the beginning of the second half of this year and continue to rise in 2016." Brent crude was trading at around $65 a barrel, up from a low near $45 seen in January but still nearly half the level set in June 2014 […]

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ENLARGE An image made available by an Islamist media outlet in February purports to show Islamic State militants parading in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Islamic State leaders in Syria have sent money, trainers and fighters to Libya in increasing numbers, raising new concerns for the U.S. that the militant group is gaining traction in its attempts to broaden its reach and expand its influence. In recent months, U.S. military officials said, Islamic State has solidified its foothold in Libya as it searches for ways to capitalize on rising popularity among extremist groups around the world. “ISIL now has an operational presence in Libya, and they have aspirations to make Libya their African hub,” said one U.S. military official, using an acronym for the group. “Libya is part of their terror map now.” Islamic State’s growth as a powerful anti-Western force has militant groups […]

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Photo Migrants waited to exit the Phoenix after arriving in Sicily. The ship rescued them from dinghies stranded in the Mediterranean. Credit Francesco Malavolta/Associated Press UNITED NATIONS — Loaded with life jackets, medics and search-and-rescue teams, the ship sailed from port in Malta early last Thursday morning in search of migrants stranded at sea. The first dinghy was found by midday, a wooden fishing boat, piled with 118 people, including 25 children, said Will Turner, head of a Doctors Without Borders team on board. The sea was rough. The wind swept the boat from side to side in six-foot swells, he recalled. The toughest part was ensuring that the babies — there were nine children under 5 — could be handed over safely, not dropped into the water or crushed between the boats. Mr. Turner told this story on Friday in a Skype interview from the ship, the Phoenix, […]

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Uncertainty remains over Libya oil sector amid civil unrest, Marathon Oil said in a quarterly report. Photo By Dona_Bozzi/Shutterstock HOUSTON, May 7 (UPI) — There’s a "considerable" amount of uncertainty surrounding production from Libyan oil reserves, Marathon Oil said in a quarterly report. Marathon left Libya out of its forecasts in its quarterly report, noting it took no oil from Libya this year. In December, the Libyan National Oil Corp. declared force majeure, absolving itself from contractual obligations because of circumstances beyond its control, at key terminals because of civil unrest. "Considerable uncertainty remains around future timing of production and sales levels, and Marathon Oil continues to exclude production from Libya in its production forecasts," the U.S. company said in a Wednesday statement. Libya has been unable to coordinate political efforts across the wide range of groups vying for more power since civil war ended formally in 2011. Before […]

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