OREANDA-NEWS. Libya's state-owned oil producer and marketer NOC is continuing efforts to block the country's rival administration in the east from loading 650,000 bl of crude for export from the Marsa el Hariga terminal.

NOC said on 22 April that it had notified the Libya's Presidency Council and Prime Minister Serraj of an attempt by the rival administration to load 650,000 bl of crude on to the Indian-flagged Distya Ameya from Marsa el-Hariga on 21-23 April.

NOC's eastern subsidiary Agoco was instructed by a Bayda official to load the ship. NOC said Agoco employees had "understood" that the attempted shipment was "a political attempt to divide the country" and had "resisted pressure to load the vessel".

NOC recognises the UN-brokered Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) — which was formed in February — as legitimate. But the GNA has not been ratified by the Tobruk-based parliament that has backed the internationally recognised Libyan government based in the eastern cities of Tobruk and Bayda, led by prime minister Abdullah al-Thinni since 2014.

The fixing of the Distya Ameya is not the first time a UAE-based firm has attempted to buy crude from the rival administration in Libya. And the crude was already committed to other buyers, NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla added.

The Distya Ameya remained in Hariga terminal this afternoon, despite NOC having asked the tanker to leave Libyan waters, an NOC official confirmed. Its vessel tracking system remains off and the official was unable to confirm whether loading had started.

The official said, "we are doing our work, and we are now waiting for the government to do their work to stop the illegal shipment", which NOC finds in contravention of UN resolutions.

Current Libyan production stands at around 360,000 b/d, while Libya's largest crude export terminal, the 350,000 b/d Es Sider, and 200,000 b/d Ras Lanuf terminal remain under force majeure.