After agreement oil exports from eastern port of Hariga resume

The Seachance, a tanker that had been blocked from loading oil for three weeks, is now loading 600,000 barrels of oil for shipment to the UK, both port and oil officials said.

Exports from Hariga were blocked earlier this month as the result of a dispute between the eastern and western-based rival National Oil Companies (NOC). The two heads of the rival NOCs met in Vienna and reached an agreement in principle to resume shipments. Earlier, at the end of April, the eastern branch had loaded the Indian-flagged Distya Ameya with oil that was not exported through the Tripoli-based NOC that is recognized by international trades and governments as the sole legitimate exporter of Libyan oil. The tanker was blacklisted by the UN and eventually returned from near Malta, where it could not land, to a western Libyan port under control of the Government of National Accord (GNA) with which the Tripoli-based company cooperates. Blocking the Seachance from loading was probably a response to the actions taken against the Ameya. The Seachance is a Maltese-flagged tanker and the oil it is to load was sold to Glencore for export to the UK.

The dispute is a lose-lose situation for both sides. Neither party is receiving any revenue from the export of oil and the dispute resulted in lower production because of lack of storage facilities at Hariga. The total production in Libya now is about 200,000 barrels a day compared to production of 1.6 million barrels per day before Gadaffi was toppled in 2011. Details of what exactly was decided have not been released. Reuters also reported that Brega port loaded a tanker with 600,000 barrels of oil for shipment to Italy.

AL-Khaleej Al-Arabi Oil Company, that is in charge of Al-Hariga port and nearby oil fields, claimed that more funds were needed to buy maintenance equipment, and pump and power generating stations. The budgeting process needed to be quicker. An official in the Tripoli-based NOC said the two rival parties agreed on resuming exports from AL-Hariga to maintain operating condition of the pipelines and to avoid a looming cash crisis.

.Nagi Emagrabi, the chair of the eastern-based NOC said: "We agreed to keep the National Oil Company neutral away from political conflicts. " Up until the creation of the Government of National Accord (GNA), the NOC had exported both from the Tripoli-based Salvation General National Congress (GNC) controlled-areas and those under control of the HoR. The revenues were divided. With the GNA now recognized as the sole legitimate Libyan government no revenues would go to the HoR. The agreement comes as the recent statement coming out of VIenna warned officials of the GNA , governments, and companies only to deal with officials of the GNA and not "parallel" but unrecognized institutions. Fortunately, officials of the Tripoli-based NOC paid no attention to this directive with the positive result that Libya will be able to export more oil.

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Conflict over Libya oil drastically reduces production

The Tripoli-based National Oil Corp.(NOC) said oil fields responsible for the bulk of Libyan oil production will be forced to stop production within a month unless the blockade is lifted on the port of Hariga at Tobruk, in eastern Libya.

Mohamed Harari, a spokesperson for the NOC, said: “In less than four weeks we will have to shut production completely because the tanks at Hariga will be full. The blockade will cause serious harm and bring no benefits.” The eastern part of Libya is controlled by the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) under prime minister Abdullah al-Thinni which has a rival National Oil Company based in the east. The HoR said that it would not allow any tankers to load and depart Hariga without their approval.

Previously, the HoR had tried to export oil through its own NOC rather than the Tripoli-based NOC which is recognized by oil traders and the rival Government of National Accord (GNA) as having a monopoly on oil exports. The Indian flagged Distya Ameya oil tanker sailed from Hariga near the end of April. It was blacklisted by the UN and returned to offload its cargo at a port in the west under the control of the GNA government. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), Martin Kobler, had condemned the attempted export. The UN had blacklisted the tanker but has now been removed from the list.

Oil output in Libya has already fallen about 80 percent since the ouster in 2011 of Muammar Gadaffi. While oil officials in eastern Libya say they have no plans to block shipments from Hariga no tankers have left the port since April 28. The tanker Seachance is moored off the port after it was prevented from exporting a million barrels of crude from Hariga.

HoR representative Abdelsalam Al-Badi had claimed that loading of oil had resumed at Hariga. Harari however refuted this claim: The spokesman of the NOC, Mohammed Al-Harari, confirmed that one of the oil officials in Al-Thanni government – Al-Mabrouk Sultan, had ordered Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi Oil Company not to load oil on a tanker related to the Tripoli-based NOC.

Exports through Hariga constitute about three quarters of present Libyan exports. Last week, the Arabian Gulf Oil Co. which ships through Hariga said production had been dropped from 240,000 barrels a day to just 90,000. Harari also noted the oil from some of the local fields is high in wax, and if oil does not keep moving through the pipelines it could solidify causing permanent production loss. NOC Tripoli-based chairman Mustafa Sanalia said: “Open the ports for the wellbeing of our country. Unity is the only solution.” Sanalia also pointed out: "The worst thing is this blockade will achieve nothing. In terms of legitimacy, which is what the blockaders want, it is a dead end." The HoR says that it plans to export more oil through its own NOC but given that their earlier attempt was unsuccessful it is not clear how any further attempts could succeed.

TV address of Libyan PM-designate Faiez Serraj of the Government of National Accord

In a pre-recorded TV address, Faiez Serraj, PM-designate of the UN-brokered Government of National Accord (GNA), gave a mainly upbeat talk about the progress of the GNA in Tripoli.

Almost a month after his entry into Tripoli, Serraj noted that the entry was peaceful and without any bloodshed. He outlined the achievements and plans of the Presidential Council and the GNA. The GNA so far consists of some but not all members of the Presidential Council headquartered at the Bu Sitta Naval Base in Tripoli. The State Council, a mainly advisory body, composed of former members of the rival General National Congress (GNC), parliament has been formed and has occupied the former headquarters of the GNC. As yet the GNA has no legislature because there has been no formal vote on the GNA by the House of Representatives (HoR) based in Tobruk. The HoR does not recognize the GNA as yet. The Libya Herald reports Serraj as saying that the HoR should "complete its commitment as the only legitimate legislature in the country," referring to its failure to vote on the GNA. There have been numerous meetings of the HoR to vote on the GNA but all have been without a quorum or have been disrupted with no vote taking place.

There has been talk of the HoR convening in another location. This happened before but no meeting took place outside of Tobruk. This time some members are already gather at Ghadames according to a recent tweet: "‏@LibyaschannelEN #HoR members arriving in #Ghadames. MP Salah Zubik told us 2 days ago that #GNA vote is scheduled for next Wednesday."

Serraj claimed that the PC and Council were "working tirelessly to complete the commitments of the Libya Political Agreement and that the time for talk and argumentation was over." Given the actions of the HoR government under PM al-Thinni and commander-in-chief of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar, Serraj may be forced into more talks.

The eastern government tried to illegally export oil through the breakaway eastern branch of the National Oil Company(NOC). The Indian-flagged tanker Distya Ameya was unable to dock in Malta and appears now to be headed back to the GNA-controlled port of Zawiya in western Libya, according to Nagi al-Maghrabi, who chairs the eastern-based NOC. He said the situation was "a legal issue and we will work on it" and that he would continue to fight for the right of the eastern-based NOC to export oil. While the GNA is likely to be able to win on this issue, another conflict with the east and Haftar may be more difficult and the GNA may not win. As with many opponents of Haftar and commentators, Serraj cannot bring himself to use his name. It does not appear in his article.

Haftar has been moving towards Sirte to liberate it along with other units of the LNA from the south-east:Serraj said that they have called upon the GNA’s defence minister to put in place a plan and form a unified command that includes all forces from all over Libya to liberate Sirte from IS, scuppering separate plans by the various forces to act unilaterally.It is not clear that a mere announcement by the GNA will "scupper plans" of Haftar and his forces and the HoR government. The GNA may need force or the threat of force to bring Haftar on board. Alternatively, he may need to talk to him, even though the time for talk is supposed to be over.

The Libya Observer also remarks on Haftar's move toward's Sirte and says it is seen as political opportunism. The Observer describes the response of the GNA's PC to the issue:The Presidential Council (PC) of the UN-proposed government has called on all military forces to wait for the appointment of a joint leadership for the liberation of Sirte from IS, asking them all to unite under the command of the PC as being the Chief Commander of Army according to Skhirat agreement.Finally after months, the PC notices that it is the Commander in Chief of the Army according to the political agreement. Up until now they have not noticed that in fact Khalifa Haftar continues to play that role and he has not indicated he is about to go back into retirement.

Serraj says that he will not allow the battle for liberation of Sirte to be used for political leverage or personal gain. Of course, Serraj and the PC have decided that their own political leverage and their control of the military is more important than the liberation of Sirte, otherwise they would welcome Haftar's move and immediately seek cooperation and coordination.