Tripoli threatens to
sink oil tankers nearing east ports
Ulf Laessing and Ghaith Shennib |
Reuters
Published — Thursday 9 January 2014
TRIPOLI : Libya
may sink tankers trying to load at eastern ports seized by armed protesters in
an escalating confrontation over control of oil exports, Prime Minister Ali
Zeidan said on Wednesday.
His warning came after Libya’s navy fired shots at the weekend to
ward off a tanker that the state-run National
Oil Corp. (NOC) said tried to load at one port that has been out of
government control for six months.
Brent crude rose above $107 a
barrel on Wednesday, supported by the new worries over Libyan supplies, which
have been slashed since summer by the blockade of three key eastern ports.
Negotiations to end the protests
have failed as eastern federalists, whose self-styled Cyrenaica government
seeks more autonomy from Tripoli,
have threatened to ship oil independently to world markets in defiance of Zeidan.
Protesters on Tuesday said they
would guarantee security for vessels docking at the three eastern ports,
inviting foreign tankers to load crude and bypass government control.
“Any country, or company, or gang
trying to send tankers to take oil from the seized ports without coordinating
with the NOC, we will deal with them — even if we are forced to destroy or sink
them,” Zeidan said. “We warn all countries there will be no leniency.”
The confrontation is a major
challenge two years after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya, where
former rebels, militias and tribesman have all resorted to force to make
demands on a state that is still mapping out the new democracy.
In the east, the Cyrenaica
regional authority and its armed protesters have taken over Ras Lanuf, Es Sider
and Zueitina ports, which previously accounted for 600,000 barrels per day in
crude exports.
On Monday, the Libyan navy said it
fired warning shots at a Maltese-flagged tanker trying to reach Libya to load oil at Es-Sider, but the tanker’s owners
accused Libya
forces of firing on them in international waters.
Analysts said they believed it
would be difficult for Cyrenaica protesters to
find clients to buy oil because of the government view it considers any
shipments that bypass its control as illegal.
Stepping up warnings, Oil Minister
Abdelbari Arusi told Reuters on Wednesday Libya will sue any foreign firms
trying to buy oil from eastern ports and stop doing business with them.
“Any firm... dealing with the
armed groups which have closed the oil ports will be sued and banned from any
future cooperation,” he said. “There won’t be any market for them in Libya anymore.
We are warning all global and small firms against dealing with the armed
groups.”
TOUGH CHALLENGE
The deepening oil standoff adds to
Libya’s
turmoil as Zeidan struggles to control the armed groups that helped oust
Qaddafi in 2011 but which have kept their guns and now demand political power
and a bigger share of oil wealth.
The conflict is hurting oil
revenues, which fund the OPEC nation’s government, which has warned it will be
unable to pay public salaries if the standoff continues.
The oil minister said Libya was now
producing around 650,000 bpd of oil, of which 510,000 bpd was being exported,
after a separate protest in the west ended and unblocked the El-Sharara field
there.
Output is still roughly half of
the 1.4 million bpd achieved in July before the disruption.
“The Libyan people are dying
because of a lack of financing. We need financing to treat sick people, we need
it to buy food abroad, overhaul schools, hospitals and to build roads,” Arusi
said.
“If there is no oil then the
Libyan people will die.”
Zeidan said he could reshuffle his
cabinet this week or next in a bid to counter critics, who are pursuing a
parliamentary vote of no-confidence against him.
Two years after the fall of their
autocratic leader, Libya’s
transition to democracy is stranded, its parliament caught in deadlock between
Islamist and secular parties, and its new constitution still unwritten.
But the eastern confrontation has
heightened worries that Libya
might break apart as Cyrenaica and the southern Fezzan
region demand political autonomy.
The Cyrenaica oil protesters, led
by tribal leader and civil war hero Ibrahim Jathran, have shrugged off Tripoli’s warning by
inviting foreign companies to buy eastern oil.
“We welcome global oil companies
... The oil security guards will guarantee the safety of tankers,” said
Abd-Rabbo Al-Barassi, prime minister of Jathran’s self-declared government in
Cyrenaica.
He said a newly founded oil
company called Libya Oil and Gas Corp. would deal with potential buyers. A new
army and coast guard, made up of Jathran’s fighters, would secure the ports.
Barassi said his group had nothing
to do with the tanker shot at by a Libyan navy on Sunday on its way to
Es-Sider.
The group is campaigning for a
federal state sharing power and oil revenues between Cyrenaica, Tripolitania in
the west, and Fezzan, as was the case in the
kingdom that preceded Qaddafi’s
rule. Oil sales were then shared between the regions.
Tribal leaders have sought to
negotiate on behalf of the government with the group holding the ports. These
talks have gone nowhere, despite pressure from the tribal leaders, some of who
see Jathran as a warlord leading Libya into chaos.
National Oil Corp
(Libya)
National Oil Corporation is a state-owned operation for the energy companies in Libya.
Note: energy
companies in Libya is the energy sector for Libya.
BP
p.l.c. has exploration operations in Libya.
Eni
S.p.A. is a major producer in Libya.
Exxon Mobil
Corp. is a producer in Libya.
Occidental
Petroleum Corp. is a producer in Libya.
Royal Dutch
Shell plc has exploration operations in Libya.
J.
Christopher Stevens was the U.S.
ambassador for Libya, and killed in the 2012 attack on U.S.
consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Thomas R.
Pickering was the chairman of review board that investigated the 2012 attack on U.S. consulate in Benghazi,
Libya in 2013, the SVP for the Boeing
Company, a lifetime trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank), is a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a co-chair
for the International Crisis Group,
and a director the Atlantic Council of
the United States (think tank).
Linda
Z. Cook is a director at the Boeing
Company, and was the executive director gas & power for the Royal Dutch Shell plc.
Charles O.
Holliday Jr. is a director at the Royal
Dutch Shell plc, and a director at the ClimateWorks
Foundation.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think
tank), the Brookings Institution
(think tank), the ClimateWorks
Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace (think tank), and Human Rights First.
George
Soros is the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society, a board member for the International Crisis Group, an advisory board member for the Earth Institute, and the founder &
chairman for the Open Society
Foundations.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Carl-Henric
Svanberg is an advisory board member for the Earth Institute, and the chairman for BP p.l.c.
BP
p.l.c. was the operator of oil rig for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Kenneth R.
Feinberg is the victim compensation administrator for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a
director at Human Rights First, was
the administrator of victim payments for the 2012 Aurora (CO) theater shootings, and the special master for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of
2001.
Jamie S. Gorelick
was the attorney for BP p.l.c., and
a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Exxon Mobil Corp.
Exxon Mobil
Corp. was a contributor for the 2013
Barack Obama inaugural committee.
Enzo
Viscusi is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and a senior adviser for Eni
S.p.A.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think
tank), the International Rescue Committee, Demos, and the Common Cause.
Condoleezza Rice is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), an
overseer at the International Rescue Committee, a William Morris Endeavor Entertainment client, Muammar Abu Minyar Al-Qadhafi said he loved her & kept
scrapbook of her photos, and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
Muammar
Abu Minyar Al-Qadhafi said he loved Condoleezza
Rice & kept scrapbook of her photos, the Libya
leader, and his son is Saif Al Islam
Al-Qadhafi.
Saif Al
Islam Al-Qadhafi is Muammar Abu
Minyar Al-Qadhafi’s son, and the chairman for the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation.
Benjamin R.
Barber was a trustee at the Gaddafi
International Charity and Development Foundation, a senior fellow at Demos, and is a governing board member
for Common Cause.
Ari
Emanuel is the co-CEO & director for William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, and Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother.
Rahm
I. Emanuel is Ari Emanuel’s
brother, a member of the Commercial Club
of Chicago, the Chicago (IL) mayor,
and was the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Walter
E. Massey is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, was a director at BP
p.l.c.
John
H. Bryan is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, was a director at BP
p.l.c., and a director at the Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. (Bailout Company).
Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. (Bailout Company)
is an investor in BP p.l.c.,
Kathleen
Brown is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, the California state government governor Jerry Brown’s sister, was a senior
adviser for the Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. (Bailout Company), and
an attorney for O'Melveny & Myers
LLP.
O'Melveny
& Myers LLP was the lobby firm for the Occidental Petroleum Corp.
Walter L. Weisman
was a director at Occidental Petroleum
Corp., and is the chairman for the Sundance
Institute.
Margaret M. Foran
is a director at Occidental Petroleum
Corp., and a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Sundance Institute, and the Committee
for Economic Development.
George
Soros is chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Donna
S. Morea was a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development, and the EVP for the CGI Group Inc.
CGI Group Inc.
was the Obamacare contractor that
developed Healthcare.gov web site.
Obamacare
is Barack Obama’s signature policy
initiative.
Barbara G. Fast
was a VP for the CGI Group Inc., and
a VP at the Boeing Company.
W. James
McNerney Jr. is the chairman & president & CEO for the Boeing Company,
and a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Mark
A. Angelson was a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP, and is a director at Human
Rights First.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for Human Rights First.
George
Soros is chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Kenneth R.
Feinberg is a director at Human
Rights First, the victim compensation administrator for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, was the administrator
of victim payments for the 2012 Aurora
(CO) theater shootings, and the special master for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001.
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