Saturday, July 30, 2016

Deal to open Libya's Ras Lanuf and Es Sider oil ports

Libya's UN-backed government has signed a deal with an armed brigade controlling the major oil ports to end a blockade and restart exports.




The two major Ras Lanuf and Es Sider oil ports had shut down since December 2014.

Mousa Alkouni, Libyan Presidential Council deputy, signed the agreement late on Thursday with Ibrahim al-Jathran, commander of the Petroleum Facilities Guards, one of Libya's many armed brigades that has controlled the terminals.

"I think the resumption depends now on technical part and I think also it will happen from within a week to two weeks, but not more," Alkouni told Reuters news agency by telephone.

He said the agreement included paying an unspecified amount in salaries to Jathran's forces. He said they had not been paid wages for 26 months.

Opening the two oil ports would add a potential 600,000 barrels per day of capacity to the North African country's crude exports, though experts estimate damage from fighting and the long stoppage must be repaired before shipments are at full capacity again.

Since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has slipped into chaos that has cut its oil output to less than a quarter of pre-2011 levels of 1.6 mn barrels per day.

Jathran's brigades led blockades of the ports starting in 2013, saying he was trying to prevent corruption in oil sales, though others disputed his motives...
 [aljazeera.com]
30/7/16
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