Prospects improve for end to Libyan oil woes

Most of the oil ports in eastern Libya should be opened following talks with the government in Tripoli, a spokesman from a self-proclaimed government said.

Libya's oil potential since the end of civil war in 2011 has been curbed by internal conflicts. The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution allowing the use of force to seize oil taken from eastern oil ports under rebel control.

Ali al-Hassi, a spokesman for Ibrahim Jadhran, who leads the self-proclaimed government in eastern Cyrenaica, told the Libya Herald both sides were in general agreement to remove blockades on the region's oil ports.

"A big part of the oil ports would be reopened if the government accepts our demands," he said Wednesday.

A Defense Ministry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Libyan newspaper he wasn't optimistic about the potential for a final deal.

"It is not possible for the government to sign a deal with Jadhran" he said. "He is a wanted person."

Libyan authorities earlier this week released three gunmen who forced the North Korean-flagged oil vessel Morning Glory to leave a Libyan port last month in an effort to appease eastern Libyan leaders.

U.S. Navy SEALs, acting on Tripoli's request, seized the vessel and returned to it Libyan custody in late March.

[Libya Herald]