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Patrick Markey News

28 Aug 2017

Libyan Navy Seizes Tanker over Suspected Smuggling

Libyan naval forces on Sunday seized a Liberian-flagged oil tanker and detained its mainly Filipino crew on suspicion of smuggling oil off the Abu Kammash area west of the capital Tripoli, a naval spokesman said. Libyan coast guards often seize tankers suspected of smuggling oil and gasoline off the coast that has become a haven for migrants and smugglers taking advantage of chaos that followed the 2011 fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. In the latest case, the Levane tanker with its crew of 20 members from the Philippines was seized on Monday afternoon by a patrol, naval spokesman Ayoub Qassem said. "The capacity of the tanker Levane is six million litres and it is a Greek-owned company tanker," Qassim said, adding that members of the crew were being questioned.

22 May 2017

Panama Frees Vessel Held in Western Sahara Claim

Panama authorities have released a Moroccan phosphate shipment from the disputed Western Sahara territory after it was temporarily held by a legal challenge from the Polisario independence movement, officials said on Monday. The vessel was held on May 18 and is the second tanker carrying phosphate cargo from Moroccan exporter OCP stopped this month by a Polisario challenge. Polisario claims the cargo was transported illegally, a new tactic in its dispute with Morocco. Western Sahara has been disputed since 1975, when Morocco claimed it as part of the kingdom and the Polisario fought a guerrilla war for the Sahrawi people's independence. A 1991 ceasefire split the region in two between what Morocco calls its southern provinces and an area controlled by Polisario.

28 Apr 2017

Libya Captures Oil-smuggling Tankers after Firefight

Libyan naval forces captured two vessels suspected of smuggling oil from the North African country after gun battles lasting several hours west of the capital Tripoli, a spokesman for the service said on Friday. Libyan forces frequently capture vessels smuggling oil and arms off the coast and the North African state has become a haven for migrant smugglers who take advantage of the country's turmoil to ship people across to Europe. Ayoub Qassem, a spokesman for the Libyan naval forces, said Ukraine-flagged tanker Routa and a vessel with an unspecified African nation's flag named Stark were captured early Friday. "Clashes lasted for three hours, but the two tankers were successfully seized," Qassem said. The incident occurred in the Sidi Said area west of Tripoli.

19 Jan 2017

Norwegian Shipping Firm Denies Polisario Accusation of Illegal Shipment

A Norwegian shipping firm on Thursday denied a tanker it manages had violated a European court ruling after Western Sahara's Polisario movement accused it of illegally transporting an oil cargo through disputed territory it claims. The Polisario independence movement this week called on the European Union and French authorities to seize a France-bound cargo being transported on the Gibraltar-flagged Key Bay because the tanker had made a port call to Moroccan-controlled Laayoune on Jan. The Polisario said the tanker's call to Laayoune had rendered its cargo illegal as it had violated a ruling by the European Court of Justice last month that two trade deals between the EU and Morocco did not cover Western Sahara.

20 Dec 2016

Tanker Docks at Libya's Es Sider Port to Load First Crude Cargo in Two Years

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).

23 Sep 2016

Libyan Oil Port Takeover Gives Edge to Eastern Commander

Less than a fortnight after forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar swept into four of Libya's oil ports, tankers are loading, production has jumped, and momentum has shifted firmly in the divisive former general's favour. For Haftar's opponents, and for Western powers, the move on the ports was alarming. Haftar and his backers in eastern Libya have been in a stand-off for months with a unity government in Tripoli, blocking any parliamentary vote to endorse it and challenging the U.N.-mediated deal to unify Libya. How Haftar and his allies will use control of the country's major oil exports - whether to leverage political advantage under that U.N. deal, or to extend military control across Libya - is still uncertain. But risks to stability are clear.

31 Aug 2016

Calm Seas, Libya's Lawless State Open Door for Migrant Flows

Calmer seas and Libya's lawlessness have opened the way for smugglers to ship thousands of migrants across the Mediterranean this week, in a striking reminder of how far Europe is from ending the migrant crisis. In just four days, Italy's coastguard and European vessels pulled 13,000 migrants from packed wooden boats and rubber dinghies crossing from Libya's coast through the Strait of Sicily, one of the shortest routes from North Africa. Images from rescue vessels showed migrants crammed into fragile boats, some in orange life jackets, others jumping into the water to swim as rescuers shouted for them to stop. Many were women and children, most of them Subsaharan Africans.

29 Jul 2016

Libyan Oil Exports to Resume from Closed Ports

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)

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 May 2016

Libya Eastern Oil Company Blocks Tanker Loading Crude for Tripoli Rival

An oil company set up by Libya's eastern government is preventing a tanker from loading a cargo for its Tripoli rival, the National Oil Corporation (NOC), officials said on Tuesday. The eastern company, also calling itself the National Oil Corporation (NOC), ordered workers at Marsa el-Hariga port in eastern Libya not to load the tanker, which had been waiting for two days, a port official said. An eastern NOC official said the move was in line with the east's attempt to export a shipment of 650,000 barrels of oil last week in defiance of the authorities in Tripoli, part of a power struggle between Libya's rival administrations. The tanker, Seachance, had been initially due to load on April 26-28 and was part of the Tripoli NOC's loading programme, an NOC official in the capital said.

01 May 2016

Blacklisted Tanker Returns to Libya's Zawiya Port

A tanker that Libya's rival eastern government had been using to try to export oil in defiance of the Western-backed administration in Tripoli returned to the country on Saturday, after it was blacklisted by the United Nations, the state oil company said. The eastern government's parallel oil company had hoped to sell the cargo of 650,000 barrels, but the United Nations measure required states to ban it from entering any port. Two competing governments, one in Tripoli and one in the east, backed by armed factions have struggled for control of the North African OPEC state since 2014. The eastern administration has set up its own National Oil Corporation in parallel to the Tripoli-based NOC.

14 Feb 2016

Libyan Navy Seizes Foreign Tanker

Libyan naval forces have seized a Sierra Leone-flagged oil tanker on suspicion of illegally entering Libyan waters in an attempt to smuggle gasoline, authorities said on Saturday. The vessel, the Captain Khayyam, was stopped in Libyan waters on Friday night 25 miles northwest of Zuwarah city, and was carrying 1.6 million litres of gasoline, said Ayoub Qassem, a spokesman for the naval forces allied to Tripoli's self-declared government. "The tanker was seized due to illegal entrance to Libyan waters without permission," Qassem said. He said more details would be announced when the tanker was docked in Tripoli. He said it was a sailing under a Sierre Leone flag with a crew of nine including nationals of Turkey, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan, including one woman.

04 Jan 2016

Islamic State Attacks Libya's Es Sider Port

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.

09 Dec 2015

Authorities Recover 11 Bodies After Migrant Boat Sinks

Moroccan authorities have recovered the bodies of 11 African migrants whose boat sank apparently due to bad weather as they tried to cross to the Canary Islands, officials said on Wednesday. The bodies were recovered off Boujedor in the south of the country. Local authorities in the town of Layoun said one woman was among the dead, but did not indicate how many other people may have been in the boat. "The boat capsized on Monday afternoon because of bad weather," a statement from local authorities said. Moroccan rescue services have intensified their search for survivors in the ocean. Morocco is just one of the routes migrants from sub Saharan Africa and asylum seekers use to get to the North African coast in an attempt to reach Europe.

01 Oct 2015

Islamic State Militants Attack Forces Guarding Libya Oil Port - official

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.

09 Jul 2015

Libya Warns Tankers Away from Ras Lanuf Port

Libya's recognized government warned its security forces would seize any tankers approaching the Ras Lanuf terminal without permission, saying any attempt to make oil deals with the rival government in Tripoli would be "piracy". The warning over Ras Lanuf illustrates how the OPEC country's oil industry is caught up in a power struggle between the two rival governments and their armed forces, who have each appointed competing figures in the state oil company. The internationally recognised government and elected parliament has operated in the east since last year, when an armed faction called Libya Dawn took over the capital, set up its own government and took control of ministries in Tripoli.

10 Jun 2015

Tunisia Rescues 350 Migrants Heading to Italy from Libya

Tunisia's navy rescued more than 350 illegal migrants off its coast and was searching for hundreds more on Wednesday after they tried to sail from neighbouring Libya to the Italian island of Lampedusa, the local Red Cross said. Boat smugglers often use Tunisia's proximity to the Italian coast to ship migrants there. Tunisian authorities have rescued dozens of people travelling in unsafe boats in recent months. "Naval forces have rescued at least 350 clandestine migrants off the coast near Ben Guerdane in an old boat that left from Libya," local Red Cross representative Abd el Karim Rguiyi told Reuters. "Among them are Syrians and families, Africans. Ben Guerdane is a coastal town just across the border from Libya and not far from the tourist island resort of Djerba.

11 May 2015

Libyan Military Shells Turkish Cargo Ship, Crewman Killed

Forces loyal to Libya's internationally recognised government said on Monday they shelled a Turkish ship off the Libyan coast after it was warned not to approach, and one crew member was killed in what Turkey described as a "contemptible attack". Libya is in a state of violent factional chaos with two rival governments backed by various armed groups vying for control of the oil-producing North African state including its ports, four years after rebels overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. The dry cargo ship was targeted about 10 miles from the coast on Sunday after it was told not to break a ban on approaching the eastern city of Derna, Libyan military spokesman Mohamed Hejazi told Reuters.

10 Feb 2015

Libya Reopens Oil Port After Strike

Libya reopened its oil port of Hariga on Tuesday, ending a strike by guards that had threatened to further slash exports as rival factions fight for control of the OPEC country. The threat to shut down Hariga underlined the fragility of oil shipments as two competing governments and their armed allies are locked in a scramble for territory and petroleum wealth. Hariga reopened shortly before the United Nations was expected to hold talks to prevent a wider conflict that Western governments fear will turn Libya into a failed state just across the Mediterranean from Europe. Libya shut most operations at the Hariga terminal near Egypt's border, the last functioning land oil export terminal, on Saturday after security guards prevented a tanker from docking in a protest over wage payments.

26 Jan 2015

Libya Forces Tanker Away from Supplying Rival Government

Libya's recognized government said it forced a tanker from delivering fuel to its rival administration, diverting the vessel to its own territory by threatening an air attack on it. The tanker Anwaar Afriqya was approaching the port of Misrata, but diverted to Tobruk, a port official at the latter said on Monday. "Our planes are forcing an oil tanker to sail to Tobruk after it had been on the way first to Misrata," Saqer al-Joroushi, air force commander for recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, told state news agency Lana. Libya's recognized government works from a headquarters in the east of the country since the summer when rival forces under the banner Libya Dawn took over the capital Tripoli and installed their own self-proclaimed government.

05 Jan 2015

Warplane Bombs Greek-operated Oil Tanker at Port

A Libyan warplane from forces loyal to the internationally recognised government bombed a Greek-operated oil tanker anchored off the coast, killing two crewmen in an escalation of hostilities between factions vying to rule the country. Military officials said the vessel had been warned not to enter port and said it had been transporting Islamist militants to Derna, the eastern port city where the ship was at anchor when it was hit on Sunday. State oil firm NOC said it had leased the ship to carry fuel for power generation to Derna from Brega, an oil port to the west. The vessel was damaged but none of the 12,600 tonnes of heavy oil leaked out, the Athens-based operator Aegean Shipping Enterprises Co. said.

07 Aug 2014

Militia Clashes Spread Towards Zawiya Oil Port

Photo courtesy UK Libyan Embassy

Clashes in Libya spread from Tripoli to the western town of Zawiya near Tunisia's border, where a large oil port is located, killing four people over the last two days, local town council officials said on Thursday. Foreign governments have mostly closed their embassies and evacuated staff after three weeks of clashes turned Libya's two main cities - Tripoli and Benghazi - into warzones in the worst fighting since the NATO-backed war against Muammar Gaddafi. Three years after Gaddafi's fall…

28 Jul 2014

Tripoli Airport Ablaze, Rockets Leave Libya in Chaos

Diplomats flee Libyan chaos; Politicians appeal for international intervention. Clashes in Tripoli, Benghazi kill around 160 over two weeks, while Libyan capital face fuel, power shortages. A rocket hit a fuel storage tank in a chaotic battle for Tripoli airport that has all but closed off international flights to Libya, leaving fire-fighters struggling to extinguish a giant conflagration. Foreign governments have looked on powerless as anarchy sweeps across the North African oil producer, three years after NATO bombardment helped topple dictator Muammar Gaddafi. They have urged nationals to leave Libya and have pulled diplomats out after two weeks of clashes among rival factions killed nearly 160 people in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi.