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Libya Vows to Block Tanker Attempt to Lift Oil in Rebel Port

Libya ’s government vowed to prevent a tanker from leaving a rebel-held oil port as it struggles to reassert control over the nation’s main source of revenue. The vessel arrived on March 8 in Es Sider, the nation’s largest oil-export terminal, after Libyan armed forces refused government orders to fire on the ship, Prime Minister Ali Zaidan said in Tripoli, the capital. Air force officers told Zaidan they didn’t want to risk harming civilians or causing an oil spill , the Libya Herald newspaper reported. Navy vessels have moved to stop the tanker from leaving, Culture Minister Habib Lamin told a news conference yesterday. “The government should now actively seek a solution” with rebels in the self-proclaimed eastern region of Barqa, Asma Sraibah, a member of parliament, said yesterday in a telephone interview in the capital city. “It would be a disaster if the government loses its main source […]

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Libya port rebels say have started exporting oil

Armed protesters who have seized oil ports in eastern Libya said on Saturday they had started exporting oil, bypassing the Tripoli government, with their first shipment going to a North Korean-flagged tanker. Officials at state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) confirmed earlier on Saturday that the tanker was docked at the Es-Sider port, which is under the control of a rebel group demanding autonomy and a greater share of Libya’s oil wealth. "We started exporting oil. This is our first shipment," said a spokesman for the protesters, who have seized Es-Sider and two other ports. The tanker Morning Glory, which had been circling off the Libyan coast for days, was preparing to load crude at the port, said an oil official, asking not to be identified. Oil workers at the port confirmed the docking. "We have informed the government and the defense ministry so they can take […]

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BP shelves onshore work in Libya

British energy company BP said in an annual report it was exploring other options for exploration drilling onshore in Libya because of security concerns. BP in 2007 secured exploration and production-sharing agreements with the Libyan government for the onshore Ghadames basin and the offshore Sirte basin. In an annual report filed Thursday, the company said planning for offshore exploration drilling was continuing. "With respect to the onshore exploration drilling program, a security review in June concluded that this could not be safely and securely delivered by BP at this time," it said. "Alternative approaches are being considered." London’s commercial ties to Tripoli were questioned following the 2009 release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi , the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. BP was accused of playing a role in the decision to release him, though the allegations […]

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Jordan, Iraq, Egypt join hands on natural gas, oil

The Jordanian government said it signed natural gas deals with Egypt and discussed the prospects for future oil cooperation with Iraq. Egyptian Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail Mohamed joined Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi in Amman for a trilateral energy meeting. During the meeting, Jordan and Egypt signed deals to secure natural gas deliveries through the Arab Gas Pipeline, a 750-mile pipeline from Egypt. A separate deal called for connecting future liquefied natural gas supplies through the pipeline for Jordanian energy companies, the official Jordan News Agency reported Thursday. The Egyptian section of the pipeline has been the frequent target of terrorist attacks, causing problems for Jordan. Last month, Jordanian companies Arab Potash and Jordan Bromine secured a total gross quantity of 66 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the Tamar field, located off the Israeli coast. With Iraq, the Jordanian government said both sides expected an oil […]

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Egypt: IPR finds oil, gas in Southwest Gebel El-Zeit prospect

Irving, Tex., independent IPR Inc. has made a discovery in its first drilled well, SWGEZ-5, in its Southwest Gebel El-Zeit concession in the Gulf of Suez offshore Egypt. IPR operates the block, which was acquired from Devon Energy International in 2007. IPR constructed a modern 3-slot platform, 9.5-km, 8.5-in. pipeline from platform to shore, and state-of-the art surface facilities to receive future deliveries. SWGEZ-5 was drilled using Advanced Energy Systems’ ADM-IV jack up rig under the supervision of IPR’s operational teams and its joint venture operating company, PetroHurghada. The well took 43 days to drill, test, and complete to a total depth of 8,020 ft in the basement of the Precambrian age. The well encountered a total of 107 ft of net hydrocarbon pay in Late Cretaceous age Nubia and Matulla formations, as targeted prolific producers in the Gulf of Suez. SWGEZ-5 tested naturally flowing oil and gas at […]

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Egypt Tries Harder To Stop Energy Firm Exodus

Egypt is enhancing exploration terms and striving to repay nearly $5 billion it owes to foreign oil and gas producers as it struggles to prevent them fleeing to more promising prospects elsewhere in Africa. Cairo needs them to expand exploration and bring new finds to production if it is to keep the lights on and avoid more civil unrest. But investors are hesitant – Egypt pays them barely enough to cover investment costs. The costing issue has been compounded since the 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak by Egypt’s inability to pay foreign firms for existing output and its decision to divert for domestic use the share of gas they normally get to export. The crisis has left BG Group, a major investor which relies on Egypt for almost a fifth of its output, unable to meet export commitments. The British firm has said it […]

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Dana Gas to overhaul production facilities in Egypt

Emirati energy company Dana Gas said it was overhauling its el-Wastani natural gas plant in Egypt to increase its production by 25 percent. The company said it was shutting down the facility for two weeks to upgrade capacity by 40 million cubic feet per day to 200 million cubic feet. Mark Fenton, general manager for Dana’s subsidiary in Egypt, said the maintenance was planned as soon as his company received permission to bring new fields in the country into commercial production. "It is a necessary work and the tie-in of the new wells along with the maintenance program ensures that the plant is also fully upgraded prior to new wells coming on stream during the year," he said in a statement published Sunday. Dana announced last week it signed agreements with the Egyptian government to explore for natural resources in eastern […]

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Frustrated With the Pace of Change, Rioters Storm Parliament Building in Libya

Dozens of armed rioters stormed into the Libyan Parliament in Tripoli on Sunday, setting fire to the grounds, looting furniture and wounding a prominent lawmaker in a spasm of anger at the clotted and chaotic transition after the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi . Less than two weeks after a vote to elect an assembly charged with writing a new constitution, the bedlam at Parliament dampened hopes of renewed momentum for the transition, or even of a break from the violence. Security guards outside the building encouraged the rioters, witnesses said, and looters running amok suspended the symbolic white chair of the parliamentary leader from a lamppost. Later, they set the chair on fire. In Benghazi, Libya, at least three people were killed by gunshots, according to news reports, adding to an accelerating pattern of assassinations of former Qaddafi security officers and foreigners. Together, the events appeared […]

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Libyan colonel shot dead in Benghazi

A Libyan security official says gunmen have shot dead an officer in the air defense branch in the eastern city of Benghazi. The official says Colonel Wanis Massoud al-Barghathi was gunned down Friday night. He didn’t provide further details, and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media. A wave of assassinations and bombings has targeted police and army officers in Benghazi, a stronghold of militias with roots in the rebel brigades that fought against slain dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Some of the groups are Islamic hard-liners with al-Qaida links. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .

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New trouble sends Libya's oil production nosediving again

Libya’s oil production has tumbled to about 230,000 barrels per day after armed groups shut down the el-Sharara oil field in the Murzuq desert in the southwest, adding to a crippling seven-month oil crisis centered in the rebellious east. The shutdown of el-Sharara, one of Libya’s biggest fields with a normal output of 340,000 bpd, was a serious setback to efforts by the problem-plagued transitional government to push national production back to the 1.4 million bpd it achieved last summer. But about 2 1/2 years after Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was driven from power in a NATO-backed uprising, the North African producer remains mired in lawlessness and anarchy, with the government powerless to restore stability or control dozens of heavily armed militias and tribal groups. The current production level marked a significant decline from the 370,000 bpd the National Oil Corp. announced last […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple