Western Libya oil production resumes
Oil production resumed at Libya’s Sharara field after a shutdown and is now at 205,000 barrels per day, a Libyan National Oil Corp. official said Monday. Mustafa Sanalla, a boad member of the company, said operations at Sharara, closed by protests in October, resumed during the weekend, the Platts energy news service reported. Protesters who forced the shutdown had demanded more local authority, officials said. "Today production is 205,000 bpd from Sharara," Sanalla said. The field in western Libya has the capacity to produce 350,000 bpd. Libya has struggled to return to its pre-civil war level of 1.6 million bpd because of national security issues. Platts reports there were no indications crude oil from Sharara has reached the export market. In 2012, the International Energy Agency called on its member states to tap into their strategic reserves to compensate for supply disruptions in […]
Oil production at Libya’s Sharara field rises to 205,000 b/d
Oil production at the major Sharara field in the west of Libya has risen to 205,000 b/d, a senior official at Libya’s state-owned NOC said Monday, but there are no signs of any significant increase in crude exports from the troubled North African country. Output at the 350,000 b/d Sharara field restarted on Saturday after protesters at the facility agreed to halt their blockade. The field had been shut in by protests and strike action since the end of October, with production having been disrupted on and off by strikes since June. NOC executive board member Mustafa Sanalla told Platts Monday: "Today production is 205,000 b/d from Sharara." Operated by Akakus, a joint venture between NOC and Spain’s Repsol, Sharara is one of Libya’s major onshore oil fields and feeds the 230,000 b/d Zawiya crude export terminal, Libya’s second-largest. While the terminal has been […]
Oil production at Libya's Sharara field rises to 205,000 b/d
Oil production at the major Sharara field in the west of Libya has risen to 205,000 b/d, a senior official at Libya’s state-owned NOC said Monday, but there are no signs of any significant increase in crude exports from the troubled North African country. Output at the 350,000 b/d Sharara field restarted on Saturday after protesters at the facility agreed to halt their blockade. The field had been shut in by protests and strike action since the end of October, with production having been disrupted on and off by strikes since June. NOC executive board member Mustafa Sanalla told Platts Monday: "Today production is 205,000 b/d from Sharara." Operated by Akakus, a joint venture between NOC and Spain’s Repsol, Sharara is one of Libya’s major onshore oil fields and feeds the 230,000 b/d Zawiya crude export terminal, Libya’s second-largest. While the terminal has been […]
Libya bars oil tanker headed to militia-held port
A Defense Ministry official says Libya’s navy has prevented a Malta-flagged oil tanker from entering its territorial waters apparently en route to a militia that has shut down oil terminals for months in a challenge to the government. Spokesman Abdul-Razak al-Shabahi told The Associated Press on Monday that the tanker tried to enter the northeastern city of Misrata’s port the previous night. He says the tanker and its cargo were not meant for the government. Libya’s eastern militia is demanding more autonomy from the government in Tripoli and a share of oil revenues. Last summer, its fighters shut down most of the country’s terminals and mediation has failed. The government has threatened to use force if the militia attempts to bring in oil before the standoff is resolved. © 2014 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten […]
The Muslim Brotherhood, Back in a Fight to Survive
They hide in safe houses on the outskirts of this city, talk only fleetingly on cellphones and avoid the cafes where they used to meet. Heavy scarves obscure their identities when they venture out to join protests. The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, now outlawed, have adjusted to life underground, even while hundreds of their fellow members have been arrested in this city since the military deposed President Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader, and the Egyptian government branded the group a terrorist movement. Yet, rather than crack and disintegrate under the pressure, members say, the group has fallen back on the organizational structure that sustained it for decades as a banned and secretive movement. It is becoming more decentralized, but also more cohesive and rigid, as its members abandon activities like preaching and social work and shift their attention to a virtually singular goal: resistance to […]
2 killed in pro-Morsi protests in Egypt
At least two people were killed and nine others injured on Friday in clashes across Egypt between supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi and security forces, health ministry said. Following the Friday prayers, hundreds of Morsi’s supporters took to main squares in Egypt to protest against the armed forces, the police and the new draft constitution. One of the death cases was reported in Faiyum governorate, where the other one was killed in the coastal city of Alexandria. The protesters in the Faysal district in Giza hurled Molotov Cocktail at an armored police vehicle and set it on fire. They also blocked the roads and fired at police officers, the official news agency MENA reported. State TV’s footage showed hundreds of Morsi’s loyalists protested in eastern Cairo’s Nasr City, carrying posters against the interim government and Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who led the […]
Libya Hopes to Restart Oil Production at Major Field
Libya hopes it can restart production at one of its largest oil fields, El Sharara, operated by Repsol SA, in two to three days after protesters agreed to end their two-month stoppage of the facility, the spokesman of the state-owned National Oil Corp. said Thursday. "The protesters agreed to end their blockage of the field…so if they fulfill their promise and leave the field completely, we can restart operations again within two to three days," Mohamed al-Harari told The Wall Street Journal. "We are […]
Egypt sets Jan. 28 for ousted Morsi's 3rd trial
An Egyptian judge says Jan. 28 has been set as opening day for the third trial of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, this one on charges of organizing prison breaks with the help of foreign militants. Judge Medhat Idriss says the Cairo Appeals Court set the date Thursday. The jailbreaks took place during the January 2011 uprising against Morsi’s predecessor, autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Morsi was jailed in Cairo at the time and escaped with more than 30 others, while more than 20,000 inmates escaped from prisons across Egypt, including Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian militant Hamas members. Morsi faces three trials on various charges, most of which carry the death penalty, from conspiring with foreign groups to inciting violence that led to the killings of protesters during his year in power. © 2014 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]
Egypt sets Jan. 28 for ousted Morsi’s 3rd trial
An Egyptian judge says Jan. 28 has been set as opening day for the third trial of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, this one on charges of organizing prison breaks with the help of foreign militants. Judge Medhat Idriss says the Cairo Appeals Court set the date Thursday. The jailbreaks took place during the January 2011 uprising against Morsi’s predecessor, autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Morsi was jailed in Cairo at the time and escaped with more than 30 others, while more than 20,000 inmates escaped from prisons across Egypt, including Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian militant Hamas members. Morsi faces three trials on various charges, most of which carry the death penalty, from conspiring with foreign groups to inciting violence that led to the killings of protesters during his year in power. © 2014 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]