Libya says oil shutdown losses close to $2.6 billion - ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 3, 2020
Samy Magdy

CAIRO (AP) — Economic fallout continues from a protracted blockade of Libya’s vital oil fields and ports, with losses close to $2.6 billion, the national oil corporation announced Tuesday, intensifying the pressure on a U.N.-supported government in the capital.

Powerful tribes loyal to Libya’s eastern-based forces seized large export terminals and choked off major pipelines in January, aiming to starve the Tripoli-based government of crucial revenues.

The eastern-based forces, led by military commander Khalifa Hifter, launched an offensive in April to capture Tripoli, clashing with an array of militias loosely allied with the U.N.-supported government. The fighting for Tripoli has ground down to a stalemate in recent months.

The National Oil Corporation, which dominates Libya’s critical oil industry, said Tuesday the losses as of Monday were close to $2.6 billion since Jan. 17.

Eastern Libya, U.S. firm close to signing Libya port deal - REUTERS

JULY 6, 2019 / 12:53 AM
Ulf Laessing, Ayman al-Warfalli

TUNIS/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Eastern Libyan authorities and U.S. security firm Guidry Group plan to finalize an agreement to develop a major port in the east of the troubled oil producer, both sides said.

Talks have been going on for about a year to build a port in Susah, which would mark a rare sign of investment in Libya. Most of the country has been in chaos since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

“The Guidry Group and the State of Libya through the Sea Port Authority officially signed the concession agreement on May 13 for the development of a multi-purpose, deep sea port in Susah, Libya,” the Guidry Group said in a statement to Reuters.

“Next steps for the project will involve establishing all the technical, financial, operational and commercial requirements,” the firm said.

Salah Elhasi, head of the eastern port authority, said no final deal had been signed yet but 90 percent of work was done.

“We are in the final stage of the agreement. ...and are reviewing the agreement’s details,” he said.

Libya oil chief warns output to drop every day as ports halted - WORLD OIL

JULY/9/2018
SALMA EL WARDANY

CAIRO (Bloomberg) -- Libya’s oil output will keep dropping day by day if major ports remain closed after clashes last month led to a political deadlock, the head of the country’s state energy producer said.

“Today, production is 527,000 bpd, tomorrow it will be lower, and after tomorrow it will be even lower and everyday it will keep falling,” Mustafa Sanalla, chairman of the Tripoli-based National Oil, said in a video statement posted on the company’s Facebook page. The nation was producing more than twice that amount before fighting in February forced an oil field in western Libya to shut down, he said.

Sanalla urged Khalifa Haftar, an army commander in the politically divided nation’s east, to transfer control of the closed oil ports to the NOC in Tripoli.

Libya State Oil Co. confident eastern rival can't ship crude - WORLD OIL

JUNE/28/2018

CAIRO (Bloomberg) -- The chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp. in Tripoli said he’s confident that the U.S. and other world powers would help block authorities in eastern Libya from exporting any crude after militia captured key ports there.

Libya's deepening split finds battleground at oil terminals - EGYPT INDEPENDENT

Sun, 12/03/2017 - 10:27

Hundreds if not thousands of armed men are converging on Libya's main oil shipping terminals, which the rival powers in the country's east and west are fighting to control in a battle being watched by global oil markets.

The struggle for the Ras Lanuf refinery and nearby Sidr depot threatens to spiral into an all-out conflict between east and west. Already, it has seen the bloodiest fighting yet between the two camps: around 40 troops from the east were killed over four days as militias backed by western factions stormed the area last Friday, losing a handful of casualties.

Now forces from the east loyal to military strongman Khalifa Hafter are massing nearby, threatening a new assault to wrest back the facilities, which are nominally in the hands of the Tripoli government.

National Dialogue “only way out of political stalemate in Libya” Egypt insists after LNA oil crescent reverse - LIBYA HERALD

Tunis, 6 March 2017

Egypt has insisted that dialogue is the only way Libya can extract itself from the current political crisis. Resuming the UN-brokered Libya Dialogue was of critical importance and would help safeguard the interests of its people, Egypt’s National Committee on Libya said stated today.

Libya, it added, had an “historic opportunity” to reach a political consensus bereft of outside interference to end the suffering of its people and ensure stability.

The committee is headed by Egypt’s Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Mahmoud Hegazy.