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By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 30 October 2013:
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan remained confident today that Tobruk’s Marsa Hariga terminal and refinery would open . . .[restrict]as a result of his visit to the city on Monday, while a senior executive at the facilities insisted the blockade was still on.
At his press conference today, the prime minster repeated that the reopening had been agreed with the elders of Tobruk and the local council, and it would take place on Sunday or Monday at the latest.
Meanwhile a senior official from the port, Rajab Sahnoon Abdullrasoul, told the Libya Herald: “The oil port, unfortunately, will not resume work as has been announced by the primer minister Ali Zeidan and the head of Tobruk local council Farj Yaseen recently”.
Abdullrasoul said : “I don’t want to be negative but there are tribal problems behind the shut down the port and refinery” adding that he and other staff at the port and refinery were still receiving threatening messages warning them not to open the port and refinery again.
The refinery which can process 20,000 b/d and the export terminal which has a loading capacity of 51,000 b/d are both run by NOC subsidiary AGOCO. They have been closed since the second day of Ramadan.
Abdullrasoul told this newspaper: “Zeidan and Yaseen can say whatever they want. They don’t live here. Zeidan just gives speeches and then goes back to his office”.
He said that he himself had met tribal elders who refused to open the facilities and declined to talk about their demands. “But they did tell me that the problems are with the government and the Congress, which they say, do not listen to their needs”.
He added however that the elders had said that in the coming week they would be meeting to decide on a reopening. This may be linked to the deal that Zeidan clearly believed that he won, when he visited the city on Monday.
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