Petroleum Facilities Guards News

Libya's Petroleum Facilities Guards have stopped blockading the port of Hariga at Tobruk after being paid, they said in a video statement on Wednesday whose authenticity was confirmed by a guards member.The stoppage at Hariga began last month and contributed to a decline in Libyan oil output, a Libyan oil source said this week.(Reporting by Ayman al-Warfali, writing by Angus McDowall; editing by Grant McCool)

Petroleum facilities guards at Libya's eastern Hariga oil terminal have delayed the loading of a one million-barrel cargo as they press salary demands, the port's manager said on Wednesday.The guards at Hariga, where Mesla and Sarir grades are loaded, have been staging a sit-in, which continued on Wednesday morning, according to one of the guards and port manager Rajab Sahnoun.They say they will block crude exports until their demands over unpaid salaries are met.Trader Unipec's Olympic Fighter was due to load the one million barrel cargo, according to a local shipping agent.There was no immediate comment from the National Oil Corporation, which manages production and exports across Libya.Libya's oil production staged a rapid recovery late last year after an eight-month blockade of ports a

Petroleum facilities guards prevented a tanker from entering Libya's Es Eider port to load a cargo of crude oil from storage on Wednesday, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said in a statement.The Delta Ocean tanker had been blocked from loading despite what NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla called "the clear Libyan and international consensus that the NOC should lift force majeure.""The NOC is consulting with all parties to find a way forward," Sanalla said in the statement.(Reporting by Aidan Lewis. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Libyan oil exports from closed ports should resume in no more than one to two weeks after a deal was signed between the government and an armed brigade controlling the terminals, President Council member Mousa Alkouni told Reuters on Friday.   "I think the resumption depends now on technical part... and I think too it will happen from a week to two weeks, but not more," he said. He said the agreement included payment of salaries to oil guards controlling the ports.   Ras Lanuf and Es Sider ports have been closed since December 2014 and are controlled by commander Ibrahim al-Jathran's Petroleum Facilities Guards, one of the scores of brigades operating in Libya since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; writing by Patrick Markey, editing by David Evans)

Libya's U.N.-backed government in Tripoli is in negotiations with an armed brigade controlling two main oil ports to reopen the terminals and lift a force majeure to restart exports, a member of its ruling council said on Monday. Libya's oil industry has been battered by conflict among rival armed factions who control quasi-fiefdoms in a challenge to successive governments, and also by attacks by Islamic State militants which has expanded in the chaos. The Tripoli statement follows positive remarks about reopening the ports from Ibrahim Jathran, commander of the Petroleum Facilities Guard who control Ras Lanuf and Es Sider oil ports with an export capacity of 600,000 barrels per day. The two ports have been closed since 2014 after fighting between armed factions to control them.

Fires have spread to seven oil tanks at Libya's ports of Ras Lanuf and Es Sider following attacks this week by Islamic State militants, a Petroleum Facilities Guards (PFG) spokesman said on Thursday. Ali al-Hassi said five storage tanks were burning at Es Sider and two at Ras Lanuf. Two tanks were hit by shelling this week and the fires have since spread. Hassi said the PFG remained in control of the area and that there were no clashes on Thursday. Separately, however, at least 65 people were killed on Thursday when a truck bomb exploded at a police training centre in the town of Zliten east of Tripoli, local officials and hospital sources said. Both Es Sider and Ras Lanuf have been closed since December 2014.

Fires caused by clashes between Islamic State militants and guards near Libya's biggest oil ports have spread to four oil storage tanks that were still burning on Wednesday, a guards spokesman said. Ali al-Hassi said the Petroleum Facilities Guards were in control of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf ports, but that skirmishes continued. At least nine guards were killed and more than 40 injured in fighting around the perimeter of the area on Monday and Tuesday. Hassi said guards had recovered bodies of 30 Islamic State fighters, and had also captured two military tanks and other vehicles from the militants. Firefighters were trying to control three fires at Es Sider and one at Ras Lanuf. Two blazes were triggered by shelling from Islamic State, and fire had spread to two more, Hassi said.

Libya's eastern-most oil export terminal, Hariga, was still closed on Friday by protesting oil guards waiting for their salaries to be transferred, a spokesman for the operating company said on Friday. Hariga is run by the Arabian Gulf Oil Company, a state-owned subsidiary of National Oil Corp (NOC). The spokesman said that funds to cover the salaries had been transferred by the Ministry of Finance to NOC, but still needed to be transferred to the Petroleum Facilities Guards for distribution to its employees. The port was shut down at the beginning of last week. Two oil tankers have been waiting to load since then. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Pravin Char)

Libya may have averted a state collapse by striking a deal with eastern rebels to reopen occupied oil ports, but technical delays and simmering federalist dissent threaten to disrupt production once again. On Sunday, Libya's fragile government reached an agreement with Ibrahim al-Jathran, the leader of eastern rebels, to reopen two oil ports they were holding and lift a nine-month blockade crippling crude exports. Under the deal, Hariga and Zueitina ports will reopen immediately, with the larger Ras Lanuf and Es Sider terminals to be freed by Jathran's men in less than four weeks after more negotiations. Nearly three years after dictator Muammar Gaddafi's fall…