Libya: Rebels set to export first oil shipment Skip to main content

Libya: Rebels set to export first oil shipment

Rebel fighter by the wreckage of a government vehicle near Brega (5 April 2011) Rebels near Brega were quickly at the scene of Tuesday's Nato air strikes

Libya Crisis

The first export of oil from rebel-held areas of eastern Libya for almost three weeks is due to begin later.
Libya's opposition groups are said to be making plans to load a tanker due to dock at a terminal near Tobruk.
It comes as Nato air strikes were reported against pro-Gaddafi forces and rebels gathered near the town of Brega.
Libya's government has remained defiant, with an envoy who is visiting Europe insisting that Col Muammar Gaddafi will not step down.
Meanwhile Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Col Gaddafi, has told the BBC that Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa did not betray Libya by leaving for the UK.
He told the BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson that Mr Koussa had travelled to Britain for health reasons and was being pressured into making allegations about Libya's government in an effort to secure immunity from prosecution.
Export potential The tanker heading to Libya is expected to dock at the Marsa el-Hariga export terminal near the town of Tobruk, reports say.

Brent Crude Oil Futures $/barrel

Last Updated at 05 Apr 2011, 11:15 GMT *Chart shows local time Brent Crude Oil Future intraday chart
price change %
120.39 -
-0.67
 -
-0.55
There were unconfirmed reports that the tanker en route to Libya was the Liberia-flagged Equator vessel, owned by Greece-based Dynacom Management.
Lloyd's List, the shipping news and data provider, says that some 1 million barrels of oil are expected to be loaded on to the tanker - possibly bound for Qatar.
The small Gulf state has recognised Libya's rebels as the country's legitimate government and has agreed to market oil from rebel areas.
Libya is Africa's third largest oil producer, but exports have dried up since the anti-Gaddafi uprising began some two months ago.
Libya had been exporting 1.6m barrels a day.
Michelle Wiese Bockmann, of Lloyd's List, told the BBC: "The significance is not only that this is the first shipment in 18 days, but it is also a signal that Libya is open to international trade and shipping. It will send a message to other tanker owners."
The high quality crude was worth about $100m (£62m) at current prices, she said.
The oil is then most likely to be marketed to countries such as Italy, which has previously been an important buyer of Libya's output, she added.
Italy's government has also openly backed the rebel administration.
On Monday, European Union officials clarified legal advice on sanctions, saying that oil exports were allowed as long as revenues did not find their way to the Gaddafi government or state oil company.
The collapse of exports from Libya has helped drive up oil prices, which on Monday hit a two-and-a-half year high.
Brent crude rose $2.36 to $121.06, after earlier reaching $121.29. US light, sweet crude rose 53 cents to $108.47, the highest close since September 2008.
Tripoli defiant On the ground on Tuesday, Nato jets bombed Libyan government vehicles near Brega, reports said, as small groups of rebels assembled on the outskirts of the city.
Click to play
Advertisement
Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam told the BBC's John Simpson Moussa Koussa was "old and sick"
The air strikes destroyed two in a convoy of eight vehicles, forcing the others back into the centre of Brega, rebels said.
The ongoing clashes came as Libya's government struck a defiant note.
A senior envoy visiting Europe, Abdelati Obeidi, met Turkish officials on Monday and refused to back down. "Both sides have a rigid stance," a Turkish foreign ministry official told Reuters news agency.
"One side, the opposition, is insisting that Gaddafi should go. The other side is saying Gaddafi should stay. So there is no breakthrough yet."
In Tripoli, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi told the BBC's John Simpson that Moussa Koussa had been allowed to leave Libya, and denied that the former foreign minister knew incriminating details about the Lockerbie bombing or other atrocities.
"The British and the Americans, they know about Lockerbie, they know everything about Lockerbie so there are no secrets anymore," Mr Gaddafi said.
"Come on. The British government say this: you have no immunity unless you co-operate. He [Moussa Koussa] is sick, he is sick and old so if you put it this way, no immunity of course... [he] will come out with the funny stories."
Moussa Ibrahim, a prominent government spokesman, also backed the long-term leader, warning that without Col Gaddafi Libya could slide into civil strife.
"The leader provides Libyan tribes and Libyan population... a unifying figure," he said.
Libya, Mr Ibrahim said, was open to political reform - "elections, referenda, anything" - but "the leader has to lead this forward".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12969004
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chronology of the Press in Burma

1836 – 1846 * During this period the first English-language newspaper was launched under British-ruled Tenasserim, southern  Burma . The first ethnic Karen-language and Burmese-language newspapers also appear in this period.     March 3, 1836 —The first English-language newspaper,  The Maulmain Chronicle , appears in the city of Moulmein in British-ruled Tenasserim. The paper, first published by a British official named E.A. Blundell, continued up until the 1950s. September 1842 —Tavoy’s  Hsa-tu-gaw  (the  Morning Star ), a monthly publication in the Karen-language of  Sgaw ,  is established by the Baptist mission. It is the first ethnic language newspaper. Circulation reached about three hundred until its publication ceased in 1849. January 1843 —The Baptist mission publishes a monthly newspaper, the Christian  Dhamma  Thadinsa  (the  Religious Herald ), in Moulmein. Supposedly the first Burmese-language newspaper, it continued up until the first year of the second Angl
Post a Comment
Read more

ARSA claims ambush on Myanmar security forces

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Sunday claimed responsibility for an ambush on Myanmar security forces that left several wounded in northern Rakhine state, the first attack in weeks in a region gutted by violence. Rakhine was plunged into turmoil last August, when a series of ARSA raids prompted a military backlash so brutal the UN says it likely amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority. The army campaign sent some 650,000 Rohingya fleeing for Bangladesh, where refugees have given harrowing accounts of rape, murder and arson at the hands of security forces and vigilantes. Myanmar's military, which tightly controls information about Rakhine, denies any abuses and insists the crackdown was a proportionate response to crush the "terrorist" threat. ARSA have launched few attacks in recent months.  But the army reported that "about ten" Rohingya terrorists ambushed a car with hand-made mines and gunfire on Friday morning
Post a Comment
Read more

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do
1 comment
Read more