Libya lifts force majeure on major oil ports in eastern Gulf

Libya's National Oil Corporation announced that it has lifted a force majeure on the ports of Brega and Zueitina after four months of closure.

Head of the National Oil Corporation Mustafa Sanalla on Wednesday said the move was made possible following long negotiations to allow a tanker to carry condensate for use in generating power, amid an oil supply crisis that has heightened an already tight crude market.

"A team of specialists in the National Oil Corporation and its subsidiaries is currently conducting negotiations to allow tankers on the ports of Sidra and Zueitina, and to resume production at the fields in the hope that the production crisis will resolve", he said in a statement.

He added that as soon as the production of the Waha Company fields begins its extraction, there will be a special shipment to solve the gas shortage crisis in the eastern region and ensure the resumption of the Zueitina and North Benghazi stations, as well as the Sarir station.

The lift came as the export capacity of the Sidra and Brega ports rose to 500,000 barrels per day after a force majeure was lifted on them, a source from the Marketing Department of the National Oil Corporation told The New Arab's Arabic-language service, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Libya's eastern Gulf of Sirte has four main oil export terminals: Es Sider, Ras Lanuf, Brega and Zueitina.

Libya has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The North African country has recently once again found itself with two rival governments after the eastern-based parliament in February appointed a new prime minister in a direct challenge to the UN-brokered government in the capital Tripoli in the west.

The latest in a long line of standoffs pits Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah's interim government in Tripoli against that of former interior minister Fathi Bashagha, who was chosen by parliament.