Es Sider Port News

An oil tanker has docked but has yet to load at Libya's Es Sider port, engineers said on Tuesday, despite groups saying that the port was closed.Last Thursday, groups at Libya's Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil terminals closed them and exports were halted in an apparent expansion of a partial blockade of the country's energy output.(Reporting by Ayman al-Warfali; Writing by Lina Najem;Editing by Louise Heavens)

Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) on Sunday accused the United Arab Emirates of instructing eastern forces in Libya's civil war to reimpose a blockade of oil exports after the departure of a first tanker in six months.The UAE, along with Russia and Egypt, supports the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar, which on Saturday said the blockade would continue despite it having let a tanker load with oil from storage."NOC has been informed that the instructions to shut down production were given to (the LNA) by the United Arab Emirates," it said in a statement, resuming force majeure on all oil exports.There was no immediate…

Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) lifted force majeure on all oil exports on Friday as a first tanker loaded at Es Sider after a half-year blockade by eastern forces, but said technical problems caused by the shutdown would keep output low."The increase in production will take a long time due to the significant damage to reservoirs and infrastructure caused by the illegal blockade imposed on January 17," NOC said in a statement.A first cargo of 650,000 barrels will be shipped by the Kriti Bastion Aframax tanker, chartered by Vitol, which two sources at Es Sider port said had docked and started loading on Friday morning.The blockade…

The Kriti Bastion oil tanker is making its way to Libya’s recently re-opened Es Sider oil port, two shipping sources said and ship tracking data showed on Thursday.The Aframax ship is the second vessel to head to the port, following Unipec’s Delta Ocean which is awaiting permission to load. The tanker was chartered by Vitol, two trading sources said.Libya’s state-owned National Oil Corp on Wednesday lifted force majeure on crude loadings from Es Sider after a six-month closure, but local guards have prevented loadings from resuming.(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar and Julia Payne; editing by Jason Neely)

The head of Libya's state oil firm warned on Monday that if the international community tolerates a blockade on the country's oil industry it would be complicit in ending the rule of law in the country.The 10-day old blockade is the most extensive for years, shutting down fields and ports in the east and south of Libya and causing production to plunge to 262,000 barrels per day (bpd) from around 1.2 million.Production has gradually been falling since the blockade began as storage capacity in Libya's ports fills up, forcing Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) to shut in production upstream.NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla said that at the Ras Lanuf port only 30% of storage capacity was operational…

An oil tanker docked at the east Libyan port of Es Sider on Monday to load the first cargo of crude since the terminal reopened following a two-year closure, port officials said. Es Sider, Libya's biggest export terminal, had been shut due to a blockade by a military faction since 2014. It reopened in mid September, but repairs were needed before tankers could load at the port, and its capacity remains far below its pre-conflict level of 350,000 barrels per day (bpd). Es Sider is one of four ports seized in September by forces loyal to east Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, which allowed Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) to reopen them, doubling national production to about 600,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Islamic State militants resumed shelling near the Libyan oil port of Es Sider on Tuesday and an oil storage tank in the port was hit causing a fire, a petroleum guards spokesman and the National Oil Corporation said. The guards spokesman said the militants were 30-40 km (19-25 miles) from the port, which they also targeted on Monday in an attack that left seven guards dead and 25 wounded. In the nearby oil port of Ras Lanuf, a fire at an oil tank that was hit on Monday had been mostly contained but was still burning, the spokesman said. Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli

Islamic State fighters clashed with security forces near Libya's Es Sider oil export terminal on Monday killing two guards and setting an oil storage tank on fire, witnesses and a Petrol Facilities Guard source said. The source told Reuters that the tank had been hit by a rocket during the fighting, causing a huge fire, and that two Islamic State suicide car bombers had attacked the area around the port after which its fighters had retreated. According to Mohamed al-Manfi, an oil official based in eastern Libya, the tank was holding 420,000 barrels of oil. Libya descended into chaos after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and rival governments and the militias that support them are fighting for control of the North African state and its energy reserves.

Islamic State militants attacked forces guarding one of Libya's main oil ports on Thursday with a gun assault and an attempted car bomb in an escalation of their campaign in the North African state, a local security official said. Islamic State has gained ground in Libya where two rival governments -- one internationally recognized and the other self-declared -- are battling for control, leaving a security vacuum four years after the uprising toppled Muammar Gaddafi. Militants attacked guards at a gate near Es Sider port, which is under the control of forces allied with the recognized government, the security official said. The terminal has been closed since December because of fighting with other rival armed factions and problems at supply oilfields.

A fire raging at an oil storage facility at Libya's Es Sider port has destroyed up to 1.8 million barrels of crude, a top oil official said on Tuesday.   Total damage so far, including the lost oil, is estimated at $213 million, al-Mabrook al-Buseif, the top oil official of the recognised Libyan government, told Reuters.   (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by David Goodman)

A fire at an oil storage tank at Libya's Es Sider oil port has spread to two more tanks, officials said on Friday. The first oil tank was hit during clashes between armed factions allied to Libya's competing governments over control of the country's biggest oil port, located in the east. Es Sider and the nearby Ras Lanuf port have been closed since the fighting broke out two weeks ago. Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli

A second tanker is waiting to load oil at Libya's Es Sider port, state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Thursday, as the country's biggest crude export terminal swung back into action after being closed for a year. The OPEC member's oil production has risen in the past few weeks as major ports in the east have resumed work under a deal with a group of federalist rebels, adding to a crude market that is already well supplied. A first tanker has been loading oil at Es Sider since Wednesday but a second had already arrived, NOC spokesman Mohamed El Harari said. Technical problems and mistrust between the rebels campaigning for regional autonomy and the government had delayed implementing an oil port deal but output has risen to 562,000 barrels per day (bpd), NOC said on Tuesday.

A second tanker is waiting to load oil at Libya's Es Sider port, state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Thursday, as the country's biggest crude export terminal swung back into action after being closed for a year. The OPEC member's oil production has risen in the past few weeks as major ports in the east have resumed work under a deal with a group of federalist rebels, adding to a crude market that is already well supplied. A first tanker has been loading oil at Es Sider since Wednesday but a second had already arrived, NOC spokesman Mohamed El Harari said. Technical problems and mistrust between the rebels campaigning for regional autonomy and the government had delayed implementing an oil port deal but output has risen to 562,000 barrels per day (bpd), NOC said on Tuesday.

Former Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan has fled to Europe after parliament voted him out of office on Tuesday over his failure to stop rebels exporting oil independently in a brazen challenge to the nation's fragile unity. Zeidan was in Malta for two hours late on Tuesday on a short stop before going to "another European country", Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told state-owned television TVM. Government sources in Malta said he had left via a private plane bound for Germany, but the German authorities could not confirm he had arrived.

Rebels deny losing control of North Korean-flagged tanker; Government says tanker being taken to western port. Oil blockade has slashed vital government revenues. Libya on Monday stopped a North Korean-flagged tanker that had loaded oil from a rebel-held port, after naval forces briefly exchanged fire with the rebels, officials said. But in a sign of the chaos and conflicting information typical for Libya, rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran denied in a televised statement broadcast from a ship that he had lost control of the oil tanker. The LIbyan officials also said the government will assemble forces to "liberate" all occupied ports, raising the stakes over a blockage that has cut off vital oil revenue.