Two rival Libyan governments claim to control oil policy
Fri Oct 17, 2014 4:11pm GMT
* Misrata-appointed oil minister gives interview
* Prime minister says oil revenue going to elected govt
* Capital Tripoli in militia hands since August
* Government has withdrawn to east of country (Adds details, background)
By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum
CAIRO/BENGHAZI, Libya, Oct 17 (Reuters) - A self-styled rival government
controlling Libya's capital announced its own oil policies this week,
drawing a rebuttal from Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni who said oil
revenues continued to go to the elected government.
Libya is in turmoil, with two competing governments vying for control after
Operation Dawn, an umbrella of armed groups from the western city of
Misrata, seized Tripoli in August, forcing Thinni's government to withdraw
to the east.
The Misrata-led forces have since formed their own rival parliament and
government, which has taken over some ministries and effectively controls
parts of western and central Libya.
Oil traders are concerned about the uncertainty over who is in charge of
Libya's vast oil reserves after the Misrata group appointed its own oil
minister and took over the official website of state firm National Oil Corp
(NOC).
In an interview with local news agency Press Solidarity, the newly appointed
oil minister, Mashallah al-Zawi, said the ministry was working to resolve
oilfield protests and discussing early retirement schemes for staff to make
room for fresh recruits.
"The ministry is working to resolve the issue of sit-ins by youth through
dialogue and by meeting some demands," he said, according to the agency's
website.
Thinni, whose government is recognised by the international community,
responded from Bayda, a town east of Benghazi almost 1,000 km from Tripoli,
where his government has relocated.
He said oil revenues for the OPEC member state continued to enter a Libyan
bank, which transferred them to the central bank.
"They are under the control of the state of Libya and the government
approved by the Libyan parliament," he said, referring to the elected House
of Representatives, which has moved to Tobruk, east of Bayda near the
Egyptian border.
Libya's de facto oil minister is the chairman of National Oil Corp, Mustafa
Sanallah, who has given no statement since his appointment by the Thinni
government last month.
Thinni spoke to a channel his government set up on Thursday in Bayda, after
the previous state TV channel was taken over by the new rulers in Tripoli.
Thinni and Zawi both cited the same figure of 800,000 barrels per day for
Libya's oil production, three years after the fall of Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi, down from about 1.4 million in mid-2013, before a wave of protests
broke out at oil facilities.
National output had recovered to 900,000 bpd in recent weeks but has
recently fallen again due to a new protest at eastern oilfields.
Armed factions in the country often seize oilfields or export terminals to
pressure officials into accepting their political or financial demands. A
blockade of its biggest oil ports lasted a year.
Western powers worry that the conflict between the Bayda- and Tripoli-based
governments will lead to civil war and that the elected government's nascent
army is no match for former rebels of various factions who defy state
authority. (Reporting by Feras Bosalum and Ulf Laessing; editing by Jason
Neely and Jane Baird)