By Ayman Amzein.
Benghazi, 8 March 2014:
A sum of $35 million has allegedly been paid for a shipment of crude illegally being loaded at the Es-Sider oil export terminal today.
A source close to Ibrahim Jadhran, the self-styled leader of the federalist movement that has closed oil fields and facilities and created the ‘government of Cyrenaica’, told the Libya Herald that the sum had been paid into a bank in Beida.
A North Korean-flagged tanker docked at 6am today and spokesperson for the so-called 'government of Cyrenaica' Ali El-Hassi said it had successfully loaded a shipment of the equivalent of 350,000 barrels of oil by early evening.
There are reports, however, that the tanker did not actually start loading until 8pm. A well-placed shipping source said that the captain had wanted to leave without the oil but that the crew were threatened and forced to start loading operations.
A number of sources, including a member of the General National Congress, said that, although sailing under the flag of North Korea, the vessel was owned by a Saudi Arabian businessman.
The Saudi Arabian Embassy, however, released a statement today saying the oil tanker was not in any way connected to the Kingdom.