Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has warned that tankers attempting to dock or load cargo at any of the country’s occupied eastern oil ports may be fired on and sunk by the Libyan navy, news agency Reuters are reporting.
“Any country, company, or gang trying to send tankers to take oil from the seized ports without coordinating with the NOC, we will deal with them – even if we are forced to destroy or sink them. We warn all countries there will be no leniency,” Zeidan told Reuters.
The warning follows 6 months of protests during which the Libyan government has lost control of the crucial ports of Ras Lanuf, Es Sider and Zueitina to armend rebels. The ports previously accounted for 600,000 barrels per day in crude exports and are of enormous importance to the Libyan oil & gas sector.
Libyan Oil Minister Abdelbari Arusi told Reuters that Libya was now producing around 650,000 bpd of oil, of which 510,000 bpd was being exported, after a separate protest in the west ended and unblocked the El-Sharara field there.
Output is still roughly half of the 1.4 million bpd achieved in July before the disruption.
Stepping up warnings, Arusi told Reuters on Wednesday that Libya will sue any foreign firms trying to buy oil from eastern ports and stop doing business with them.
“Any firm… dealing with the armed groups which have closed the oil ports will be sued and banned from any future cooperation. There won’t be any market for them in Libya anymore. We are warning all global and small firms against dealing with the armed groups.”
His warning came after the Libyan navy fired shots at the weekend to ward off a tanker that the state-run National Oil Corp. (NOC) said tried to load at one port that has been out of government control for six months.
Brent crude rose above $107 a barrel on Wednesday, supported by the new worries over Libyan supplies, which have been slashed since summer by the blockade of three key eastern ports.
On Monday, the Libyan navy said it fired warning shots at a Maltese-flagged tanker trying to reach Libya to load oil at Es-Sider, but the tanker’s owners accused Libyan forces of firing on them in international waters.
The conflict is hurting oil revenues, which fund the OPEC nation’s government, which has warned it will be unable to pay public salaries if the standoff continues.
