By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 13 March 2014:
Omar Shakmak, acting Minister of Oil, said that the embargo of the oil terminals in eastern . . .[restrict]Libya had had a “serious negative impact” on national revenues and the budget.
Speaking briefly alongside the newly installed caretaker Prime Minister Abdullah Thinni at yesterday’s press conference, Shakmak said that in the second half of 2013 revenues had declined by more than US$ 8 bn, or approximately LD 11-12 bn.
This deficit, he said, continued in the first quarter of 2014 with revenues only 16 percent of those budgeted for.
With regards to the illegal entry of the North Korean flagged oil tanker Morning Glory, the acting Minister said that the Sidra Port is one of the ports declared under a state of force majeure which he said meant that legally there could be no exports through it.
Shakmak said that the NOC was the only entity in Libya legally entitled to export oil and that the NOC had notified all parties locally and internationally of this illegal export of Libyan oil.
Libya’s eastern oil terminals have been embargoed by federalists for over eight months, and protracted negotiations have failed to lift the embargo.
Yesterday, GNC head Nuri Abusahmain announced that a final two weeks of negotiations will be permitted before military force will be used to end the costly embargo. [/restrict]
