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Central Bank falls victim to Libya's rampant crime, anarchy

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Gunmen rob millions from Libya’s central bank. Boatloads of protesters storm an oil terminal like pirates. Tribesmen block a port – and contradict the prime minister when he tells the nation it will reopen soon. Libyans have become accustomed to chaos in a country flooded with weaponry where militias and tribes call the shots, two years after NATO bombing helped rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi. But the daylight robbery of $55 million from a Central Bank van suggested that Prime Minister Ali Zeidan’s cabinet is losing the struggle to provide security and build state institutions. Ten gunmen intercepted the van on Monday when it left the airport in Sirte, a former Gaddafi stronghold, snatching the cash flown in from Tripoli for the local central bank branch. "The security situation is very bad in Sirte. When I heard about the robbery, I thought I was reading a detective […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Libya oil crisis deepens as protesters shun talks

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s oil crisis deepened on Tuesday after protesters blocking western fields shunned talks and locals denied that an eastern terminal would reopen, frustrating government efforts to end three months of disruptions. Libya’s oil exports have dropped to less than 10 percent of capacity or 90,000 barrels per day, Reuters calculations show, as renewed protests this week halted operations at western ports and fields, supporting global oil prices. The head of Italy’s Eni, the biggest foreign oil company in Libya and part owner of the Mellitah joint venture, said exports from Mellitah terminal had not been stopped though there was social unrest. Traders, however, said crude oil loading remained suspended from both Zawiya and Mellitah ports in the west. Natural gas exports are carried to Italy via pipeline and sources have said those supplies come mainly from an offshore field and have been steady for the last […]

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Libya almost dares to long for Gadhafi

Members of the Revolutionary Committees Movement hold posters of Libya’s leader Muammar Gadhafi. “As you know, our nation is facing an enormous security challenge manifested by the proliferation of arms and the government’s inability to solve the problem … Many forces are working to undermine our efforts to establish a national military institution, and they are harming the training program the government adopted, with international forces, to build the army.” These words were written this week by Libya’s interim prime minister, Ali Zeidan, in a statement distributed to the Libyan media. Among the examples Zeidan lists in his long missive, he mentions that three important Libyan ports – as-Sidra, Ras Lanouf and Zwitina – have fallen under the control of armed militias, which are preventing their operation. “Our efforts to resolve the crisis by offering to pay for stolen arms turned into the authorities, enlisting influential tribal leaders, and […]

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Marathon struggles to exit Libya as unrest grows

LONDON Oct 25 (Reuters) – Libya has blocked efforts by U.S. company Marathon Oil to sell its stake in one of the country’s top oil ventures by moving to preempt a deal, sources said, highlighting the struggle investors face in cutting exposure to Libya’s unrest. Two years of turmoil since the Arab Spring and tough contract terms have prompted oil firms to reassess their role in Libya, and U.S. companies appear keenest to leave as they lack the proximity and infrastructure links that make North Africa attractive to their European peers. Sources told Reuters in July that Marathon was considering the sale of its stake in Libya’s Waha Oil Company, which has a maximum output capacity of 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) and produces the OPEC member’s main light sweet crude grade. Oil Minister Abdelbari Arusi later said Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) could buy Marathon’s stake though other […]

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Egyptian police use teargas on protests in Alexandria and Suez

CAIRO (Reuters) – Police used teargas on Friday to disperse demonstrations by supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in Egypt’s second city, Alexandria, and in Suez. Mursi’s supporters have staged frequent protests in towns and cities across Egypt, many of them following Friday prayers, since the army deposed him on July 3 in response to mass protests against his rule. In Suez, police fired tear gas to disperse around 4,000 pro-Mursi demonstrators, a local witness said. And in Alexandria, around 1,000 demonstrators backing Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood blocked the Corniche, the main road along the Mediterranean seafront, and chanted slogans against the army and police, a witness said. Residents and drivers threw stones at the demonstrators to try to force them to let traffic through, which triggered clashes. Police responded by firing teargas to disperse the crowds. Two people were arrested, the witness said. Residents and pro-Mursi […]

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Tunisia Opposition Gives Rulers Ultimatum

TUNIS—Tunisia’s opposition gave the ruling Ennahda party a Friday morning deadline to resign or face broader protests, while demonstrations throughout the country turned violent, with antigovernment activists setting Ennahda offices on fire. The National Salvation Front, a coalition of opposition parties, called on more of its supporters to step up a campaign of civil disobedience, which on Thursday involved a general strike in two cities, if the government remains. Some in the opposition, including the country’s largest labor group, the Tunisian General Labor Union, have stayed on the sidelines, hoping the conflict could be resolved with dialogue. In a troubling sign that the country was slipping further out of government control, the National Guard Union, representing police, also took to the streets Thursday, mourning the deaths of eight officers killed in clashes with militants the day before. The police were joined by thousands of students, who marched on two […]

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Eni CEO Says Libyan Situation Very Worrying

Reuters More ROME, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Disruptions to oil production in Libya are “very worrying” to Italian oil and gas group Eni , its chief executive said on Wednesday, as losses there continue to weigh on its prospects for output and profit. A combination of strikes, militias and political activists have disrupted production at the majority of Libya’s oilfields and ports since the end of July. Eni, the world’s seventh-biggest oil major, is the largest foreign operator in Libya in terms of volume. Production disruptions there prompted the company in August to cut its yearly projections. “The Wafa field is shut, while gas is only produced for power generation inside the country,” Eni Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said on the sidelines of a conference. Wafa is one of four major oil and gas areas that Eni operates in Libya in a joint venture with the National Oil Company. […]

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OMV, Repsol, Total, find oil in Marzuq basin in southwestern Libya

VIENNA, Oct. 21 (UPI) — Austrian energy company OMV said Monday an oil discovery in Libya, made with partners Repsol and Total, is its first since the country’s 2011 revolution. OMV said said the oil was discovered oil in the Marzuq basin in southwestern Libya. “This discovery in Libya confirms the potential of the country for OMV’s upstream activities,” Jaap Huijskes, an exploration director at the company, said in a statement Monday. Spanish energy company Repsol is the operator of the area. It said it verified the oil discovery when 528 barrels of oil per day flowed from the well during testing. “Following the good results obtained, Repsol will continue with the exploratory campaign, which began in 2013 and which will continue through the end of 2015,” it said in a statement. OMV, a minority partner in the Libyan operation alongside French energy company Total, said operations in the […]

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Insight: Militia rivalries threaten new war in post-revolt Libya

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – When gunmen snatched Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan from his Tripoli hotel last week, it was a rival armed militia he thanked for his rescue hours later. Even for Libyans accustomed to their democracy’s unruly beginnings, the drama at the Corinthia Hotel was a startling reminder of the power former fighters wield two years after they ousted Muammar Gaddafi, and the dangers of their rivalry. Police and troops from Libya’s nascent army were at the scene, but the former militiamen showed they are the arbiters in a struggle between rival tribal and Islamist leaders over the post-revolution spoils of the North African oil producer. Between them, they have edged Libya close to a new war that threatens the democratic gains of the NATO-backed revolt. Too weak to take back control of a country awash with Gaddafi-era weapons, Libya’s central government has been forced to try co-opt […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple