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Tensions Flare Over Tanker Seeking Libyan Crude

ENLARGE A January photo of the Mellitah Oil and Gas terminal on the outskirts of Zwara in western Libya after fighters from the Islamist-backed Fajr Libya militia secured the perimeter of the oil complex. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images An oil tanker booked to load Libyan crude has sparked a fraught question over the North African country’s huge crude reserves: Who has the right to sell the oil when two governments are battling for control of the nation? The dispute is at the center of the struggle for control of Libya since the ouster and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi and the nation’s descent into violence and instability. The issue has become muddier in recent weeks after a string of terrorist attacks and sabotage crippled the oil industry. The Vito, a tanker controlled by Aurum Ship Management of the United Arab Emirates, has been chartered to load 1.3 million barrels […]

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Eni envisions $5 billion investments in Egypt

Italian energy company Eni signs framework agreement that envisions large-scale investments in country’s oil and gas reserves. Photo courtesy: Eni Italian energy company Eni said it signed a framework agreement to develop Egyptian oil and gas reserves that calls for as much as $5 billion in investments. Eni Chief Executive Officer, Claudio Descalzi, met over the weekend with Egyptian Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail on the sidelines of an economic summit in Sharm el-Sheik. The framework agreement calls for as much as $5 billion in total investments. "The investments, which will be utilized through the realization of projects to be implemented in the next 4 years, are directed to the development of 200 million barrels of oil and 1.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas," the Italian company said in a Saturday statement. "These investments will also contribute effectively to the increasing energy needs of local demand." Political and economic […]

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Significant gas discovery made in Libya

Italian energy company Eni reports what it says is a major natural gas discovery off the Libyan coast. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian Italian energy company Eni said Monday it made what it considers to be a significant discovery of natural gas off the coast of war-torn Libya. The company said it produced about 29 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from a discovery well off the Libyan coast . Its estimated capacity is 50 million cubic feet per day and its proximity to existing production infrastructure will allow for rapid development. "This exploration success further confirms the enormous potential of Libyan gas resources," the company said in a statement. "The future development of Libyan resources will allow supporting the growth of the domestic consumption and industry, while maintaining Libya’s position as a strategic supplier for Italy and Europe." Italy received nearly 10 percent of its natural gas from Libya’s […]

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Egypt Signs U.S.$12 Billion Deal With British Energy Giant BP

Cairo — Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail signed an energy deal worth $12 billion (91.5 billion Egyptian pounds) with energy firm British Petroleum (BP) on Saturday. Ismail was cited by Egyptian state news agency MENA as saying that the deal is set to provide Egypt with a quarter of local energy production and will contribute to filling the gap in demand of petroleum products by 2020. The deal will see the British energy giant develop 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 55 million barrels of condensates in the West Nile Delta area. BP announced earlier this month the discovery of a deepwater exploration well, called Atoll-1. "The estimated potential in the concession exceeds 5 trillion cubic feet," the company said in a press release on March 9. Egypt has been facing an energy crisis for years, with power outages surging in the summer. Egyptian authorities have often […]

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On the River Nile, a Move to Avert a Conflict Over Water

Ethiopia’s plans to build Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam on the Nile have sparked tensions with Egypt, which depends on the river to irrigate its arid land. But after years of tensions, an international agreement to share the Nile’s waters may be in sight. For thousands of years, Egyptians have depended on the waters of the Nile flowing out of the Ethiopian highlands and central Africa. It is the world’s longest river, passing through 11 countries, but without its waters the most downstream of those nations, Egypt, is a barren desert. So when, in 2011, Ethiopia began to build a giant hydroelectric dam across the river’s largest tributary, the Blue Nile, it looked like Egypt might carry out its long-standing threat to go to war to protect its lifeline. But last weekend, all appeared to change. Ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan agreed on the basis for a deal for […]

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Libya Warns Against Attempts to Sell Its Crude Illegally

By Benoit Faucon Libya’s National Oil Co. on Thursday warned against attempts to sell its crude oil illegally, amid mounting chaos in the oil industry. The news come after a string of attacks by purported members of the Islamic State against oil fields in the center of the country, which has already been rocked by a civil war between two rival governments. In a statement posted on its website, NOC said it had obtained "reliable sources of information in the oil market that some middlemen and brokers of unknown orientation were offering amounts of Libyan crude oil" without its approval. The state-run company, which has remained neutral in the conflict, threatened legal action at home and abroad against any buyer, referring to existing export bans from shutdown terminals Ras Lanuf and Sidra. The two eastern Libyan ports are controlled by oil guards loyal to warlord Ibrahim Jadran. Libya, once […]

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Egypt: Petroleum Ministry Pumps 43 Thousand Tonnes of Diesel Oil to Over Come Fuel Shortage – Statement

Cairo — Egypt’s ministry of petroleum pumped on Wednesday 43 thousand tonnes of diesel oil nationwide, Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail said on Thursday, to overcome a fuel crisis which has persisted this week. Ismail said in a statement that the amount of diesel oil pumped is 110 percent more than the planned amount, describing it as "unprecedented". Egypt’s capital witnessed this week long queues outside gas stations and recurring power cuts due to fuel shortage, alongside other governorates. Ismail urged citizens to refrain from overcrowding gas stations, stressing that the amount of diesel oil pumped is proof of its availability within the domestic market. Egypt’s fuel crisis, ongoing for the past three years, usually surges during the summer, when power cuts occur with the highest frequency.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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On the River Nile, a Move to Avert a Conflict Over Water

Ethiopia’s plans to build Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam on the Nile have sparked tensions with Egypt, which depends on the river to irrigate its arid land. But after years of tensions, an international agreement to share the Nile’s waters may be in sight. For thousands of years, Egyptians have depended on the waters of the Nile flowing out of the Ethiopian highlands and central Africa. It is the world’s longest river, passing through 11 countries, but without its waters the most downstream of those nations, Egypt, is a barren desert. So when, in 2011, Ethiopia began to build a giant hydroelectric dam across the river’s largest tributary, the Blue Nile, it looked like Egypt might carry out its long-standing threat to go to war to protect its lifeline. But last weekend, all appeared to change. Ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan agreed on the basis for a deal for […]

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ISIS Seizes Opportunity in Libya’s Turmoil

SURT, Libya — The Islamic State has established more than a foothold in this Mediterranean port. Its fighters dominate the city center so thoroughly that a Libyan brigade sent to dislodge the group remains camped on the outskirts, visibly afraid to enter and allowing the extremists to come and go as they please. “We are going to allow them to slip out, because the less people we have to fight, the better,” said Mohamed Omar el-Hassan, a 28-year-old former crane operator who leads the brigade from a prefabricated shed on a highway ringing the city. “Why make the city suffer?” he said, trying to explain his delay more than 16 days after the brigade arrived in Surt. Nearly four years after the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi , Libya ’s warring cities and towns have become so entangled in internal conflicts over money and power that they have opened […]

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Libyan general sworn as top commander as his planes hit Tripoli airport

Warplanes from Libya’s internationally recognized government attacked the last functioning airport in Tripoli, the capital controlled by a rival administration, on Monday, officials said. Extending a series of tit-for-tat strikes, the attack coincided with the swearing-in of Khalifa Haftar, one of the most divisive figures in post-revolutionary Libya, as army commander for the recognized government. Rival governments and parliaments are battling for control of the large North African country and its oil resources four years after rebels ousted veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi. The recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and the elected parliament have been confined to a rump state in the east since an armed faction seized Tripoli in the west over the summer, reinstating the previous assembly and setting up a rival administration. "Warplanes conducted airstrikes this morning on Mitiga airport but there was no damage," airport spokesman Abdulsalam Buamoud said. "Flights were suspended for only an hour … […]

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