The Begasi government blocks Libyan oil production
The Benghazi government in eastern Libya, a rival to that of Tripoli in the politically divided North African OPEC producer, said on Monday it wanted to block all crude production and exports. The threat to Libya's oil production and exports follows the Tripoli government's move to replace the heads of the country's Central Bank , amid escalating controversy over who should oversee Libya's oil revenues.
The “force majeure” on Libyan oil production will apply to all fields, oil facilities and export terminals, according to a Facebook post by eastern authorities cited by Bloomberg.
The eastern government supported by military leader Khalifa Haftar is not internationally recognized, but Haftar and his men control most of the country's oil fields.
However, as of midday local time on Monday, Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), the company that controls the country's oil resources, had not confirmed any information about the production halt. In recent weeks, the situation in Libya has deteriorated with the rekindling of rivalry between East and West, centered on the leadership of the Libyan Central Bank, custodian of Libyan wealth and revenues deriving from oil exports and the only internationally recognized custodian of such come in.
The internationally recognized government in the western capital, Tripoli, is seeking to replace Sadiq Al-Kabir, the governor of Libya's central bank. This has led to the latest dispute between Eastern and Western governments and political factions, once again threatening to reduce Libya's oil production and exports.
The Central Bank resumed operations last week after the kidnapping of one of its employees and a rival government's attempt to oust its head, as the battle for control of the financial institution intensifies. Tripoli attempted to oust the eastern-aligned Central Bank governor Al-Kabir and replace him with Mohamed Shukri.
However, if the production block may not come from legal orders from the NOC, it could come from Haftar's militias, who not only control the fields in the rich east, but are also able to influence the production of the large El Sharara field, in the south west of the country.
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The article The Begasi government blocks Libyan oil production comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-governo-di-begasi-blocca-la-produzione-di-petrolio/ on Tue, 27 Aug 2024 06:00:46 +0000.