Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.16
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Libya will resume oil exports from major ports in coming days, Deutsche Welle reported referring to the chairman of the National Oil Company (NOC) Mustafa Sanalla.
He said that exports would resume immediately from two of the ports, continue at a third and resume from a fourth "as soon as possible."
On Sunday troops loyal to a controversial military figure named Khalifa Haftar - an outspoken opponent of the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) and backer of a rival administration in eastern Libya - seized control of the export hubs Zuwaytina, Ras Lanuf, Brega and Al-Sidra in the so-called oil crescent.
The four oil terminals had been guarded by members of the Petrol Facilities Guard (PFG), allied with the GNA, but were quickly taken over by Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA). The takeover had raised fears of fresh conflict over control of Libya's oil.
However Sanalla said the facilities were under the control of the NOC and that both the Tripoli-based UN-backed government and a rival parliament based in Tobruk, eastern Libya, supported reopening the ports.
"(This) had the potential to escalate, with potentially devastating consequences for the nation and our petroleum industry," Sanalla said. "Instead, we have found a shared interest in letting the oil flow, and the wisdom of that decision needs to be recognized."
Since 2014, Libya has been split between rival governments and parliaments based in the western and eastern regions, each backed by different militias and tribes.
According to the latest OPEC data, Libya produced 292,000 barrels oil per day in August compared to 313,000 barrels per day in May. In end 2015, the country produced 401,000 barrels per day.