BENGHAZI: Forces of eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar have handed control of oil ports to a state oil firm based in the east, a military spokesman said on Monday.
If implemented, the move would create uncertainty for buyers of Libyan oil which normally go through state oil firm NOC in the capital Tripoli, the internationally-recognized entity. There was no immediate comment form NOC.
Ahmed Mismari, spokesman of Haftar's Libya National Army (LNA), said in a televised statement no tanker would be allowed to dock at eastern ports without permission from a NOC entity based in Benghazi.
He said the move was as a result of the use of oil revenues to fund militias.
Haftar's forces control most of eastern Libya which is home to a parallel government, central bank and NOC entity opposing the UN backed administration in the capital Tripoli.
The eastern government tried in 2015 to sell oil bypassing NOC Tripoli but did not find buyers and banks then willing to take the legal risk.
Mismari said in a brief TV appearance that oil revenues were used to fund "Chadian" militias, a reference to armed forces allied to Ibrahim Jathran, a faction leader who this month briefly seized the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil ports until the LNA expelled his troops last week.
The fate of the two ports, two of Libya's largest, is crucial to the partial, fragile recovery of the country's oil industry. Their closure has led to production losses of up to 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) from a total national output of little over one million bpd.
The Hariga port in Tobruk near the Egyptian border as well as the Brega and Zueitina terminals southwest of the main eastern city of Benghazi are also under Haftar's control.
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