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By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab and Michel Cousins.
Tripoli, 28 March 2014:
The oil tanker Morning Glory involved in illegally loading Libya oil . . .[restrict]docked at Khoms port yesterday.
According to senior port official it would probably head on to Zawia “in two or three days” to unload its cargo, but admitted he was unsure as to when exactly it would leave.
According to another source at the port, the vessel which has been making a circuitous progress along Libya’s western coast since it was handed over by the US navy to the Libyan navy six days ago, sailed from Tripoli because of problems docking there.
According to the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, there were fears for the tanker’s safety in Tripoli’s port. However, the vessel’s size is believed to have been the real reason for it heading to Khoms. With its deep water berths, it is designed and equipped to accommodate ships of such size.
The source confirmed also that the tanker, which the Libyan judicial authorities reportedly plan to formally confiscate, could be moved at any time to Zawia oil port.
There are reports, however, that the oil will be transferred to another tanker and exported. This would avoid anyone trying to claim it if it delivered the cargo to a foreign port.
However as one western ambassador in Tripoli noted yesterday, “no one is going to want to claim it. They would be admitting their part in stealing the oil and be open to prosecution”. [/restrict]
