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Ibrahim Jathran News

21 Jun 2018

East Libyan Forces Advance to Retake Oil Ports

East Libyan forces said on Thursday they had retaken the shuttered oil ports of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, though clashes resumed south of Ras Lanuf in the afternoon after a counter-attack by rival factions.Staff were evacuated from terminals in Libya's eastern oil crescent and exports were suspended last Thursday when armed opponents of eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar stormed the ports and occupied them.The closure has led to production losses of up to 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) and two oil storage tanks were destroyed or badly damaged by fires during the fighting.For the past week, Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) has pounded the area with air strikes as it mobilised to retake the ports…

12 Sep 2016

Libyan Commander's Seizure of Oil Ports Risks New Conflict

Libyan forces loyal to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar said on Monday they had tightened their control over four major oil ports, casting a Western-backed project to unite Libya and revive oil exports into deep uncertainty. Haftar's forces met little resistance as they seized the terminals at Ras Lanuf, Es Sider, Zueitina and Brega in an operation launched on Sunday, displacing a rival armed faction aligned with the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. The advance is the latest power struggle over the OPEC nation's energy assets, after the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi and the chaos that followed left the North African country splintered into competing rival armed factions.

25 Jul 2016

Libyan Deal to End Oil Ports Blockade Needs Signing

Libyan Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) commander Ibrahim Jathran said on Monday he was ready to end a blockade at key oil terminals, but the U.N.-backed government still needs to sign an agreement for exports to resume. The PFG has been demanding payment of workers' wages as part of any deal to end the blockade of Ras Lanuf, Es Sider and Zueitina. Details of the negotiations have not been made public. A deal was thrown into doubt when the head of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli, Mustafa Sanalla, wrote to the U.N. Libya envoy on Friday saying that it would set a "terrible precedent" to make payments to Jathran, who he blamed for the loss of some $100 billion in export revenue. The NOC has expressed concerns that Jathran's demands have exceeded salary needs.

22 Jul 2016

Libya's PFG to Lift Terminal Blockades

Petroleum Facilities Guard has blocked terminals for months. Ras Lanuf, Es Sider terminals damaged by fighting. Libya's Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) will start lifting a blockade on eastern oil terminals over the next three days, though a resumption of exports will depend on the state of the ports, a spokesman said on Friday. The PFG, which protects Libya's oil terminals and fields, has blockaded the major eastern terminals of Ras Lanuf, Es Sider and Zueitina for months, and promises earlier this year to reopen them have so far come to nothing. Labour disputes, political conflict and security threats have crippled Libya's oil output over the past three years.

11 Jul 2016

Libya Govt in Talks to Reopen Two Major Oil Ports

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.

03 Sep 2015

Libya Plans to Sell Ex-rebel Tanker

Libya plans to sell a tanker that a former rebel group used in an attempt to bypass the Libyan government and export oil on its own last year, the Tripoli-based state prosecutor said on Thursday. The group had loaded crude on the "Morning Glory" at the eastern port of Es Sider and sailed in March 2014. U.S. Navy SEALs stopped the tanker off Cyprus and returned it to Tripoli. "The office of the prosecutor general announces the sale of the Morning Glory tanker," the prosecutor said on its website, the accuracy of which was confirmed by an official at the prosecutor's office. An auction is scheduled for next Thursday. The incident typifies the chaos in Libya since the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

06 Feb 2015

Port Battle Underscores Possible Libya Break-Up

Armed factions deploying heavy weapons. Peace talks making little progress. Hidden behind a pile of sand, a tank points its gun towards Libya's biggest oil port on the other side of an invisible frontier that now divides the north African nation. Factions fighting for control of Libya and its oil wealth have moved columns of heavy weapons to this new front line running through the middle of the country, escalating a conflict that Western powers fear may lead to a national break-up four years after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. In an attempt to prevent Libya from sliding into all-out civil war, the United Nations hopes in the coming days to resume peace negotiations between the warring parties…

01 Nov 2014

Libyan Rebel Refuses to Hand Over Oil Ports

A former Libyan rebel leader, who seized oil ports in the past to campaign for eastern autonomy, said he had turned down an offer to join an armed group challenging the internationally-recognized government. The loyalty of Ibrahim Jathran to the government is key to ensure that three oil ports accounting for at least 500,000 barrels of days of exports in eastern Libya will stay open. He had closed with thousands of supporters the ports in summer 2013 to press for regional autonomy, inflicting billions of dollars of losses for Libya until reaching a deal with the government to end the blockage in return for his men joining a state oil guard force.

07 May 2014

Libyan Rebels Reject Talks With PM, Keep Oil Ports Shut

Rebels occupying major oil ports in eastern Libya said on Wednesday they would boycott Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq and keep two major export terminals shut for now, a blow to efforts to restore vital oil exports. The rebels even warned they would take action if Tripoli did not fulfil its part of a recent agreement to reopen the oil ports, a veiled threat to close the terminals again. "Nothing has been implemented," said Abd-Rabbo al-Barassi, self-declared prime minister of the rebel movement. He accused the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists in parliament of undermining the agreement and trying to take over the ports. The struggle over energy wealth is part of growing turmoil in the North African country three years after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

08 Apr 2014

Libya's NOC Keeps Force Majeure in Place at Eastern Oil Ports

Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) has yet to lift force majeure at the eastern ports of Zueitina and Hariga following a deal with federalist rebels to reopen them after a nine-month blockade, an oil ministry official said on Tuesday. "Force majeure is still in place, it has not been lifted. NOC has not instructed the ports to export oil yet," Ibrahim al-Awami said. Al Awami said staff at Arabian Gulf Oil Co (AGOCO), which runs the Hariga terminal, had joined a general strike in Benghazi that began on Sunday. It was unclear whether this would affect the port's ability to resume exports. Workers at Zueitina were carrying out maintenance and checking facilities before the resumption of exports, Al Awami said.

07 Apr 2014

UPDATE: After Deal, Libya's Ports Prep to Load Oil Tankers

ZUEITINA PORT, Libya/TRIPOLI, April 7  - Libya's Zueitina oil port prepared on Monday to load crude into tankers after the government reached a deal with rebels to reopen four terminals that insurgents have occupied since the summer. The federalist rebels agreed on Sunday to end gradually their eight-month blockade of Zueitina, Hariga, Ras Lanuf and Es Sider ports, which account for around 700,000 barrels per day of the OPEC country's crude exports. Brent crude fell $1.47 to a low of $105.25 per barrel before recovering to $105.72 by 1256 GMT, after news of an end to the port protest removed some of the supply worries affecting the oil market.

07 Apr 2014

Libya's Ports Prepare to Load Oil Tankers

Libya's Zueitina oil port prepared on Monday to load crude on tankers after the government reached a deal with rebels to reopen four terminals that insurgents have occupied since summer. The federalist rebels agreed on Sunday to end gradually their eight-month blockade of Zueitina, Hariga, Ras Lanuf and Es Sider ports, which account for around 700,000 barrels per day of the OPEC country's crude exports. Brent crude fell $1.47 to a low of $105.25 per barrel before recovering to $105.72 by 1256 GMT, after news of an end to the port protest removed some of the supply worries affecting the oil market. "The port is ready to start exporting at the present time or later at any time…

04 Apr 2014

W.Africa Crude-Traders on Sidelines

West African oil differentials were unchanged on Friday, with traders on the sidelines as they assessed the impact of lower North Sea supply and awaited a clearer outlook for Libyan exports. The supply of North Sea crude that underpins the Brent benchmark will average 774,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, according to loading schedules provided by trade sources on Friday, down from April. This was seen putting upward pressure on Nigerian differentials because oil from the two regions competes for customers. "We're waiting to see what the offers on the North Sea are like," a trader said. Crude oil futures prices fell earlier this week on hopes that Libyan supply would return. This would pressure West African grades because they are of a similar light, low-sulphur composition.

12 Mar 2014

Ousted Libyan PM Flees Country After Tanker Escapes Rebel-Held Port

Libya's now ousted Prime Minister Ali Zeidan (AFP file photo, Mahmud Turkia)

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.

12 Mar 2014

Ousted Libyan PM flees country after tanker escapes rebel-held port

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 refuelling stop before going to "another European country", Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told state-owned television TVM. But no European government had confirmed his arrival by late morning on Wednesday. The standoff over control of oil exports threatens to deepen dangerous regional and tribal faultlines in Libya where rival militias with powerbases in the east and west back competing political factions in the transitional government.

11 Mar 2014

Libya says halts tanker outside rebel port; rebels deny it

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.

11 Mar 2014

Brent steady, holds above $108 as Ukraine crisis worsens

U.S. crude stocks likely rose 2.2 mln barrels last week. Brent futures were steady on Tuesday and held above $108 a barrel as a worsening crisis over Ukraine stoked supply disruption fears, while concerns over demand growth from the world's two biggest oil consumers kept a lid on gains. In the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War, Russia said the United States had spurned an invitation to hold new talks on resolving the Ukraine crisis, the latest instance of attempts of finding a diplomatic solution stalling. The United States will also begin previously planned military training exercises in the region. Brent futures were unchanged at $108.08 a barrel by 0255 GMT, recovering from a low of $107.83 touched earlier.