LONDON: An oil tanker on Thursday began loading crude from Libya’s Zueitina port, the first cargo about to be shipped from the terminal in 10 months, a spokesman for the country’s National Oil Co. said. A deal struck between the new Libyan unity government and a militia that controls the country’s oil ports allowed the loading to take place.
The militia, called the Petroleum Facilities Guard, had shut Zueitina and two other ports in the east over a payment dispute with the national government in Tripoli. The tanker loaded crude for the National Oil Co., which the company said it planned to ship it to a refinery in western Libya.
The resumption of loading at Zueitina is a hopeful sign for Libya’s struggling oil industry. The country’s oil exports have suffered as the country remains fractured among rival militia groups, while some of the nation’s oil infrastructure has been badly damaged by Islamic State militants. The National Oil Co. described Thursday’s loading as an emergency measure to move some of the terminal’s 3 million barrels in storage to safety.
