Mediaboss Marketing

The flow of crude oil to and from Libyas two biggest oil terminals slowed to a trickle Monday after fighting between militias intensified in the turbulent North African countrys energy-rich east.

Even before the latest outbreak of strife, the Libyan state had teetered on the brink of collapse. Months of fighting between militias loyal to two competing governments one in the capital, Tripoli, and one in the eastern city of Tobruk has largely resulted in a standoff.

The United Nations has been trying to broker an accord between the factions, and a second round of talks was to take place this week. But the fresh fighting was likely to cloud that effort.

Over the weekend, militias allied with the Islamist-leaning Libyan Dawn movement, which controls Tripoli and much of the countrys west, attacked the two oil facilities, confronting forces loyal to the internationally recognized Tobruk-based government. The Libyan Dawn ground advance drew retaliatory airstrikes near the contested terminals, and Libyan news reports said at least five people died in the fighting.

Oil officials said only minimal staff remained at the Ras Lanuf and Sidra terminals southwest of Benghazi after the declaration Sunday of a state of force majeure, a legal designation that allows the state-run National Oil Co. to renege on its international commercial commitments. Together, the two terminals account for more than half of Libyas output of crude oil.

The country has been swept by turmoil since the 2011 ouster of Moammar Kadafi amid the regionwide uprisings known collectively as the Arab Spring. Armed groups that worked toward the common goal of overthrowing the longtime dictator swiftly turned on one another, carving up the country into what amount to fiefdoms.

In the interim, regional powers have thrown their weight behind armed factions competing for political influence and oil wealth. Neighboring Egypt and economic powerhouses such as the United Arab Emirates support the Tobruk administration, while wealthy Qatar has lent support to Islamist armed factions that overran the capital in August and sought to reinstate a parliament whose mandate had expired.

Energy production has long been the linchpin of Libyas economy, which has been battered by continuing unrest and more recently by plummeting oil prices.

Libyas main eastern oil ports had reopened only over the summer after a separate power bid by an eastern-based militia leader who shut them down for nearly a year as he sought to wrest a greater share of oil revenue from the then-government in Tripoli.

In addition to the struggle for eastern oil ports, confrontations have erupted near Libyas western border with Tunisia. Despite the fighting, foreign laborers have continued to enter and exit Libya from the Ras Ajdir crossing with Tunisia, and Egypts Foreign Ministry warned its nationals to avoid the area after two Egyptians were reported killed Sunday.

Read the original here:
Fighting in Libya curbs flow at major oil terminals

Biggest oil export port shut due to clashes in Libya
Officials say Es Sider port has halted work as its staff have left for security reasons. On Saturday, airstrikes by forces loyal to Libya #39;s internationally-recognized government hit targets...

By: PressTV News Videos

More here:
Biggest oil export port shut due to clashes in Libya - Video

Abdullah al-Thinni, who is recognised outside of Libya as the legitimate prime minister, retreated from the capital Tripoli and relocated his government into eastern Libya, after an Islamist-dominated group known as Libya Dawn seized Tripoli in August and set up its own administration.

In an attempt to minimise losses, Libya's National Oil Corporation invoked a contractual clause known as "force majeure", by which they were not forced to compensate their clients for the closure of Es Sider. They also called on the rival fighting factions to spare the country's energy infrastructure.

But for the rival governments, Libya's oil reserves are a key prize, not collateral damage.

On Saturday, Libya Dawn the newest of the Middle East's self-proclaimed revolutionary movements said it had launched an operation to "liberate oilfields and terminals".

Days earlier, Mr Thinni had said his government wanted to consolidate control over oil revenues by setting up a payment system which would bypass its political rivals in Tripoli.

Libya's oil reserves are among the biggest in the world, and production has repeatedly been affected by spasms of violence. Es Sider had only recently reopened after a one-year interruption which ended when rebels occupying the port struck a deal with the central government.

The question of who owns Libya's oil reserves is key to foreign buyers, most hailing from Europe and China.

Libya's energy industry had seen a modest recovery from a wave of protests until last month, when the southern El Sharara oilfield, one of Libya's largest, ceased production due to clashes and a pipeline closure.

More:
Libya's biggest oil exporting port closes as fighting intensifies

Libya #39;s recognized PM vows military campaign to seize Tripoli
Libya #39;s recognized PM vows military campaign to seize Tripoli Subscribe My Channel! .By Ahmed Tolba CAIRO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Libya #39;s recognized government will continue a military campaign...

By: Ca News

Originally posted here:
Libya's recognized PM vows military campaign to seize Tripoli - Video

Fighters for the Islamic State militant group have been training in remote areas of Libya, heightening the Obama administrations concern about a country that U.S. officials have largely ignored since its 2011 revolution.

Training camps with several hundred Islamic State fighters have been spotted in parts of eastern Libya, and some U.S. intelligence reports suggest a new presence for the militant group near Tripoli, in the countrys west, U.S. officials disclosed in recent days.

Although the officials say no immediate military response is planned, the appearance of the camps is giving new impetus to a debate about whether the United States eventually will need to expand its campaign against the militants beyond Iraq and Syria.

Islamic State is exploiting vast, ungoverned spaces in Libya, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said this week during a Senate hearing aimed at coming up with a new legal authorization for U.S. military involvement in the Middle East.

In 2011, the Obama administration organized the NATO air campaign that led to the downfall of former Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi and the countrys dissolution into a many-sided civil war. President Obama, in an interview in August, said the failure of the U.S. and its allies to do more for Libya after Kadafis fall was his biggest foreign policy regret. Even so, U.S. officials have largely left efforts to broker peace in the country to European officials and have been deeply resistant to the idea of a renewed U.S. military role.

But the growth of a terrorist threat in a chaotic country about the size of Texas stirs alarm in Washington. Such a threat was a chief danger cited by critics of the 2011 intervention, including former Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

The militants appear to have multiple training camps in eastern Libya, officials said. The groups in Libya apparently dont include higher-ranking Islamic State fighters preparing terrorist operations, officials said.

U.S. Army Gen. David Rodriguez, chief of Africa Command, said at a Dec. 3 Pentagon briefing that the operations seemed very small and nascent. Were watching it very carefully to see how it develops.

Retired U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, special envoy for the U.S. effort against Islamic State, said Thursday in an appearance at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington that U.S. officials were still trying to determine whether the fighters they have detected are Libyan Islamists who are seeking to affiliate themselves with Islamic State or people who have arrived from the organizations center in Iraq and Syria.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), outgoing chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters Friday that of 21 Al Qaeda affiliates around the world, half have offered support to Islamic State.

Read the original post:
U.S. concern grows over Islamic State fighters training in Libya