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Munich - The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres says that the US decision to block a former Palestinian prime minister from leading the UN political mission in Libya was "a serious mistake".

Washington blocked the proposed appointment of Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority's prime minister from 2007 to 2013, a week ago. It said it was acting to support its ally, Israel.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Guterres said: "I believe that it's essential for everybody to understand that people serving the UN are serving in their personal capacities. They don't represent a country or a government."

Guterres said that Fayyad "was the right person in the right place at the right time." Libya has been gripped by unrest since its 2011 revolution and the killing of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.

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UN chief: US blocking Libya envoy was 'serious mistake' - News24

On last Fridays anniversary of its revolution, Libyas oil industry had been in chaos for six years. Large oil companies active there ConocoPhillips, Hess and Suncor among them have stopped including it in their forecasts. A conference this month on Libya-US relations, titled New Vision, Hope and Opportunities, was denied any hope when President Trumps chaotic travel ban forced its cancellation. And yet, amid worsening fighting and political chaos, oil production has rebounded sharply from late last year.

Before its 2011 revolution, Libya produced 1.6 million barrels of high-quality, light sweet crude per day. Output plummeted during the conflict, recovered quickly, then fell again as militia infighting, local protesters, a rogue oilfield guards force, and an ISIS affiliate closed ports and damaged fields.

At times in 2016, production dropped as low as 180,000 barrels per day. It had picked up to 528,000 barrels per day by October, setting the benchmark for Novembers Opec talks. The agreement reached then exempted Libya (along with Nigeria) from participating in the groups output cuts.

But by last month, Libyan production had reached some 715000 barrels per day, with optimistic talk of hitting 1.3 million bpd by the end of this year. The gain so far blunts the planned Opec cuts of 1.2 million barrels per day across the organisation.

The stage was set for this recovery in September when the Libyan National Army (LNA) of General Khalifa Haftar seized the eastern oil ports of Es Sider, Ras Lanuf, Zueitina and Marsa El Brega from the Petroleum Facilities Guards (PFG), supporters of the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. These ports, with a total capacity of 710,000 barrels per day, export oil from the Sirte basin, the countrys producing heartland. The PFG, together with an Islamist group, the Benghazi Defence Brigades, launched a counterattack in December which was beaten off.

Also in December, the PFG ended its blockade of the pipeline from the important Sharara and El Fil (Elephant) fields in western Libya. In the wake of these gains, the chairman of Libyas National Oil Company (NOC), Mustafa Sanallah, has been trying to entice foreign oil companies to return.

Mr Sanallah is seeking a release of funds from the GNA to pay for badly needed repairs to fields and oil storage facilities damaged in the fighting. Es Sider in particular has been able to export very little after an ISIS attack in January last year.

But the political situation remains chaotic. The GNA has UN recognition, but the rival House of Representatives, based in the eastern town of Tobruk, and backed by General Haftar, refuses to acknowledge it. The general, seeking international allies, recently visited Moscow. Though the LNA now controls most of the countrys oilfields and export terminals, the proceeds flow to the GNA.

At current export levels and prices, Libya will earn about $11 billion from oil exports this year, compared to the government budget of $26bn. With foreign currency reserves down to $43bn, and inflation at 20 per cent, the currency has fallen to 6 dinars to the dollar on the black market, against the official rate of 1.4.

At the target rate of 1.3 million bpd, the country could close most of its budget deficit. But it seems unlikely to get much beyond 800,000 bpd or so without major repairs and investment in re-opening shuttered fields. Dwindling savings have kept the country afloat but also fuelled the fighting. By next year, an escalating economic crisis seems inescapable.

In April, the eastern government attempted to sell oil independently, but was frustrated by UN opposition. Should it at some point gain control of revenues from the territory it controls, western Libya and the GNA would face economic collapse. Without a rapid turnaround in security and political reconciliation, and the return of international operators, Libyas impressive oil gains will be short-lived.

Robin Mills is chief executive of Qamar Energy, and author of The Myth of the Oil Crisis.

business@thenational.ae

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Oil: cause of, and solution to, Libya's problems - The National

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The Embassy of Germany in Libya said it had sent a solar power system to the Benghazi Children's Hospital via the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Libya as part of a project worth 5 million euros to install solar power systems at healthcare centers and hospitals across Libya.

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The Head of the Labor Union of Al-Sarir oilfield of Al-Kahlij oil company said 36 workers at the field were poisoned by certain foods and were treated at the fields clinic, which said the cases were not so serious.

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Two technicians at the maintenance teams in southern Sirte were injured as they were repairing a power generator, a source said, adding that the two persons who work for Al-Khalij Sirte were injured in Thalateen area, western Sirte and were sent to Misrata for treatment.

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Al-Kufra airport to see a flights route operating starting from today after two years of closure over clashes between Tubu and Al-Zway tribes, said the Civil Aviation Authority.

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The media office of Al-Bunyan Al-Marsoos said that 3362 displaced families have returned to Sirte up until last Friday as per the six-stage plan they laid down, knowing that the third stage started last Thursday.

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Spokesman of the Baer Al-Ashahar municipal council said the HoR member of Al-Kufra, Jebril Al-Zway, who was kidnapped late last January from in front of his house in Tobruk by unknown armed men, has been released without giving information about the reasons or persons behind the abduction.

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GECOLs eastern control department in Benghazi said the third steam turbine in northern Benghazi power plant will be out of order on Sunday and will last for three days as such for needed maintenance of the leakage in the water at the turbine. It said power outage hours will take place as a result of the procedure.

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UN-proposed governments Presidential Council said Sunday, February 19, will be an official day off at the state institutions in commemoration of the 17 February Revolution, except for the humanitarian, emergency and other vital institutions.

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Tunisias Foreign Ministry said a tripartite ministerial meeting for Egyptian, Algerian and Tunisian foreign ministers will take place on Sunday as part of the initiative of the neighboring countries to resolve Libyas political crisis.

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News Roundup - Sat, Feb 18, 2017 - The Libya Observer

New York Times

Can EU Shift Migrant Crisis to the Source? In Libya, the Odds Are Long New York Times Officers in the Libyan Coast Guard, they were trained by the Italians to intercept and rescue migrant boats near the Libyan coast before they reach international waters. Normally, European forces intercept migrant boats and must take them to Italy. But ... Libya is not Turkey: why the EU plan to stop Mediterranean ...Huffington Post Italy completes training of first batch of Libyan coastguardsLibya Herald Italy secures backing of Libyan mayors to curb human trafficking ...RT Huffington Post UK -Thomson Reuters Foundation -EUobserver all 52 news articles »

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Can EU Shift Migrant Crisis to the Source? In Libya, the Odds Are Long - New York Times

February 17, 2017 at 9:29 am | By LOLITA C. BALDOR

MUNICH (AP) Senior U.S. military officials say the massive airstrikes that killed more than 80 Islamic State militants in southern Libya last month generated critical computer data, documents and information from prisoner interrogations that the U.S. can use to track and target more fighters.

Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the head of U.S. Africa Command, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that the U.S. got significant intelligence from the camps after the bombings, adding that "there's some things we're working on." Waldhauser declined to go into detail about intelligence that was gathered.

But a senior U.S. military official described some of the information gathered and said that several Islamic State fighters who survived the Jan. 18th strikes were taken and interrogated by forces from Libya's Government of National Accord.

The official said the intelligence collected at the IS camps confirmed that the fighters had direct communication with the core Islamic State group in Syria and provided information about how they move through tunnels in the country. The official was not authorized to discuss the details publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We did get some actionable intelligence and we continue to work with that and develop what we can from it," Waldhauser told The Associated Press at the Munich Security Conference, which began Thursday. "We are watching, we are paying attention to where we can see numbers of them gathering and that is a focus to a large degree of our intelligence development."

U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers attacked the Islamic State military camps in Libya's lawless southern region, targeting fighters who former Defense Secretary Ash Carter said "were actively planning operations against our allies in Europe." The senior U.S. military official said that none of the information appeared to suggest an imminent attack against the west.

In addition to the Libyan militia troops, there were special operations forces from the United Kingdom that took part in the intelligence collection, according to the military official. The official said that all of the IS members at the camps were foreign fighters and that none were Libyan.

Waldhauser said the military had watched the camps since late last fall, but that the fighters move around southern Libya and don't stay in any one place for long.

He called the strike a "devastating blow" to the group.

"It was successful from the standpoint that we really did, I think, send a very strong signal to ISIL that remains in Libya that we will watch you and we will come after you," Waldhauser said, using another acronym for Islamic State.

He said the foreign fighter flow across the porous borders of the countries surrounding Libya, including Chad and Tunisia, continues to be a concern.

Overall, Waldhauser said, there are still "a couple hundred" IS members left in Libya. The total was well over 5,000 last year, but that number began to drop as Libyan forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes, began to successfully push them out of the central coastal city of Sirte.

Libyan forces ousted the last IS militants from their holdouts in Sirte in December.

During the January airstrikes by the U.S., the B-2 bombers flew more than 30 hours roundtrip from Missouri and dropped about 100 precision-guided munitions. It was an unusual mission since the U.S. doesn't often send the bombers on counterterrorism strikes.

The bombings, which also included strikes by Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drones, destroyed a lot of the camps, and likely a lot of potential intelligence information. The camps were about 45 kilometers, or 28 miles, southwest of Sirte.

It also was the first time the B-2s were used in combat since the 2011 air campaign that forced Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from power and led to his killing.

Libya plunged into chaos and lawlessness after Gadhafi's ouster and the subsequent civil war. Two rival administrations operate in the east and west of the vast, oil-rich nation.

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AP Interview: Military says Libya strike bore critical intel - Beloit Daily News