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Islamic State Affiliate Takes Root Amid Libya’s Chaos

ENLARGE A Libyan worker cleans in front of the Corinthia Hotel last week, a day after it was targeted. Photo: European Pressphoto Agency Islamic State’s affiliate in Libya has capitalized on the battlefield failures and disillusionment among better-established, more moderate Islamist groups in the country, following the same formula that brought the radical movement success in Syria and Iraq, Western counterterrorism officials said. A group calling itself Islamic State’s Tripoli Province claimed responsibility for an attack on Tuesday on a hotel that killed nine people, including an American. It was the first time the group came to prominence in Libya, raising concerns that the reach of the extremists is spreading beyond Syria and Iraq. But the attacks also underlined the threat Islamic State poses to more entrenched Islamist groups such as Libya Dawn, a more moderate Islamist militia that is ideologically close to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and now fights […]

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Libyan crude oil came to USGC in November, first time since mid-2013: EIA

Houston (Platts)–30Jan2015/520 am EST/1020 GMT Crude oil from Libya was imported to refiners in the US Gulf Coast in November for the first time since August 2013, according to data released Wednesday by the US Energy Information Administration. In November, two Aframaxes arrived in the Gulf Coast from Libya, chartered by BP and Citgo, carrying 32.5 and 36.6 API crude, respectively, and both with a sulfur content of 0.14%, the EIA data showed. The BP-chartered cargo delivered to Oil Tanking PL in Houston carrying 449,000 barrels, while the cargo chartered by Citgo headed to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where Citgo owns a 425,000 b/d refinery, contained 552,000 barrels. Platts cFlow ship-tracking software shows the EuroChampion 2004 deported from Ras Lanuf on October 18, and arrived at Offshore Galveston Lighterage on November 5. The Nissos Delos left the port of Marsa el Hariga on October 27, and arrived the Port of […]

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Twenty-six killed in attacks in Egypt’s North Sinai

CAIRO (Reuters) – Twenty-five people were killed in a bomb attack on military buildings in the capital of Egypt’s restive North Sinai province on Thursday, while an army major was shot dead at a checkpoint in Rafah near the Gaza Strip, medical and security sources said. The flagship government newspaper, al-Ahram, said its office in the town of Al-Arish, which is situated opposite a military hotel and base that security sources said were the intended targets of the bombing, had been "completely destroyed". Later, suspected militants killed an army major and wounded six others at an army checkpoint in Rafah, security sources said. An Islamist insurgency based in Sinai has killed hundreds of security officers since president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood was removed from power following mass protests against his rule. Tensions have also been raised across Egypt this week by protests, some of them violent, marking […]

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Libya Producing 363,000 Barrels per Day

Oil output from Libya, where ports and oilfields have been shut due to fighting, has fallen to 363,000 barrels a day with exports at about 200,000, the oil minister appointed by forces in control of the capital Tripoli told Reuters. Two governments allied to armed factions are vying for control of Libya four years after the toppling of leader Muammar Gaddafi. The United Nations and Western powers do not recognise the administration which controls ministries in Tripoli. Its oil minister, Mashallah Zwai, told Reuters in an interview that Libya is producing 362,780 bpd of oil, showing a report from the National Oil Corp. That is down by half from November, when OPEC member Libya was producing around 750,000 barrels a day, and well below the 1.6 million which the North African country produced in 2010. Zwai said oil revenues would fall to between $10 billion and $12 billion this […]

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Libyan Fighters Seize Benghazi Branch of Central Bank

BAYDA, Libya — Fighters for one of the factions battling for control of Libya seized the Benghazi branch of the country’s central bank on Thursday, threatening to set off an armed scramble for the bank’s vast stores of money and gold, and cripple one of the last functioning institutions in the country. The central bank is the repository for Libya’s oil revenue and holds nearly $100 billion in foreign currency reserves. It is the great prize at the center of the armed struggles that have raged here since the overthrow of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011. Western leaders had hoped that it might play a crucial role in helping to bring the rest of the country back together. Since Libyan rebels toppled Colonel Qaddafi with the help of Western airstrikes, the country has slipped into chaos, as militias grounded in particular locations or ideologies have battled for turf, money […]

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Algeria Thwarts Plans to Attack Oil Installations

Algiers — In anticipation of possible attacks on the second anniversary of the Tiguentourine gas plant siege, Algerian troops stepped up security on the southern border. Authorities announced last week the foiling of a series of terrorist operations targeting three areas of oil and gas installations in the south. Army forces already succeeded in dismantling a 12-member terrorist cell that was planning attacks against vital facilities in conjunction with the January 16th anniversary of the In Amenas assault. The operation came a few days after the discovery of weapons and military equipment along the border area with Libya, which sparked fears of a fresh attack targeting oil facilities in the vicinity of Tiguentourine. A defence ministry communique stated that the neutralised terrorist cell was preparing to carry out operations in Algeria in co-ordination with groups operating abroad. The communique pointed to a link between this cell and a terrorist […]

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Algeria expects oil price to fall further, delays spending: PM Sellal

Algiers (Platts)–22Jan2015/608 am EST/1108 GMT Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said late Wednesday he expects the oil price to fall further, adding that Algeria is now in a state of economic "crisis." Speaking on state television, Sellal said Algeria is to defer a number of key infrastructure projects due to the falling oil price as the slump begins to hit the North African country’s economy. "The decline in the oil price will continue and it will not go back to $120/b," he said. "We are in a state of crisis," Sellal said. "Oil is below $50/b, and no one anticipated such a fall." Algeria’s 2015 budget is based on a price of $60/b. "We will continue to invest in social projects, but we will have to cut certain non-essential spending such as trams and railways. These will be postponed," Sellal said. Despite the economic crisis, Sellal said Algeria had […]

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Libya’s OPEC Governor Kidnapped

ENLARGE Libya’s El Sharara oil field. The country’s OPEC governor was kidnapped last week in the militia-held capital of Tripoli. Reuters DUBAI—Libya’s OPEC Governor Samir Kamal was kidnapped last week in the militia-held capital of Tripoli, two officials familiar with the matter said Tuesday, as turmoil continues to ravage the north African country almost four years after the collapse of its central government. Mr. Kamal, who is also the head of the planning department at the Tripoli-based government’s oil ministry, was last seen Thursday, said one official at the National Oil Corp., or NOC. “Nobody knows why [he was kidnapped],” the official said. “Some people know where he is,” he added. Another NOC official confirmed that Mr. Kamal was missing, but declined to give further details. No one has claimed responsibility for his kidnapping. Kidnappings have become common in Libya, where oil fields have been seized by armed groups […]

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Libyan government army declares cease-fire

Libya’s internationally recognized government in the northeastern Tobruk has declared a cease-fire , with U.N.-brokered peace talks set to resume in Geneva next week. The Tobruk government’s rival, the self-declared Fajr Libya (Dawn of Libya) government in Tripoli had declared a truce earlier in the week, but said on Sunday that it would not participated in the talks unless they were held in Libya, but that they were willing to negotiate. Jason Pack from Libya-Analysis.com, speaking to Al Jazeera from London, said that the cease-fire agreement was only moderately promising, adding that while Fajr Libya , which is comprised of several militia groups, had agreed to a truce, many other militia groups operating in the country had not.  "We also do not have both sides of the political leadership of Tripoli represented in Geneva," Pack said, but added that the current situation in Libya was not necessarily a result of […]

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Eni acquires deepwater blocks offshore Egypt

01/15/2015 Eni SPA will resume exploration offshore Egypt under concession agreements based on production sharing it has signed covering two deepwater blocks offered in Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co.’s 2013 bid round ( OGJ Online, Sept. 25, 2014 ). Eni subsidiary IEOC is operator. The company holds 100% of the North Leil block, covering 5,105 sq km in 2,050-3,000 m of water about 170 km offshore. It holds 50% of the Karawan block, which covers 4,565 sq km in 1,200-2,200 km of water about 107 km offshore. BP PLC holds the remaining interest. The Karawan block is adjacent to the west of the North Leil block and adjacent to the east of the Shorouk block, which Eni acquired last year. Royal Dutch Shell PLC drilled a dry hole on the Karawan block in 2001 and a dry hole on the North Leil block in 2007. Eni has worked in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple