Libya’s biggest oil port may reopen as fighting recedes

The largest oil port in Libya, Es Sider, may reopen in two weeks with the fighting in the area getting less, as the rival governments in the country compete for the control of crude exports.

“Our management and marketing team are ready to deal with our existing clients and partners,” Al Mabrook Abu Seif, the chairman of the state-run National Oil Corporation, said in an interview on Saturday in the eastern city of Al Bayda, where the internationally recognised government of Abdullah Al Thinni is based.

Abu Seif, who has been appointed by Al Thinni’s elected government, said his team will start contacting existing clients to co-ordinate crude loadings at the oil ports. Libya, which holds Africa’s largest oil reserves, has been split since 2014 when Islamist militias captured Tripoli and the elected government was forced to the eastern region. The conflict has damaged or shut oil fields, pipelines and ports.

Abu Seif said force majeure may be lifted in two weeks on loadings at Es Sider, Libya’s largest export terminal and the neighbouring Ras Lanuf, the country’s third largest port. He said Islamic militias were now pulling out from the region, signalling the end of the campaign they started in December last year to capture the two ports.