Oil fields shut until deal, Libyan says

CAIRO — Forces loyal to a Libyan commander said they will allow the reopening of oil fields and terminals only once a mechanism has been set up to fairly distribute revenue across the country, which is split between warring factions.

Powerful tribes in eastern Libya loyal to Khalifa Hifter closed export terminals and choked off major pipelines at the start of the year. The move was aimed at pressuring their rivals in the U.N.-supported government in the capital, Tripoli, in the country’s west.

In a statement late Saturday, Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesman for Hifter’s forces, called for oil revenue to flow into a bank account in a foreign country with a “clear mechanism” to distribute funds fairly among Libya’s regions. He did not name a country to host the account.

He also demanded international guarantees that oil revenue would not to be used to fund “terrorists and mercenaries.” He was apparently referring to the mercenaries, mostly Syrians, that Turkey brought in recent months to fight on the side of the Tripoli government, which is backed by an array of local militias as well as Turkey, Qatar and Italy.

Hifter’s forces are also backed by a patchwork of armed groups as well as foreign patrons, including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Russia and France.

Al-Mosmari also called for an audit to Libya’s central bank in Tripoli to review the spending in past years.

Oil, the lifeline of Libya’s economy, has long been at the center of the civil war, as rival authorities jostle for control of Africa’s largest reserves. The closures have deprived authorities of more than $6.5 billion.

Hifter’s supporters say the Libyan Central Bank, which is based in the capital and collects oil revenue, uses it only for the benefit of the Tripoli government.

Last month, the tribes offered to end the closure as part of a political settlement. They mandated that Hifter’s forces negotiate the opening of the oil facilities.

The state-run National Oil Corporation said Friday it has resumed crude exports, shipping 730,000 barrels to Italy. Al-Mosmari said the shipment, which was contracted before the closures, was allowed in order to ease the strain on storage facilities.

In recent weeks, “regional countries” have been quietly negotiating with the Tripoli-based government over the distribution of oil revenue in talks supervised by the U.N. and the U.S., according to the state-run oil company.

But on Sunday, the oil company said Hifter’s forces had reversed their “cooperative posture” in the negotiations to reopen oil facilities. It accused the UAE of ordering Hifter to reimpose the blockade, without providing evidence. There was no immediate comment from the UAE.

The U.S. Embassy in Libya on Sunday rebuked what it called “foreign-backed efforts against Libya’s economic and financial sectors,” saying they “impeded progress and heightened the risk of confrontation.” The embassy statement threatened sanctions against “those who undermine Libya’s economy and cling to military escalation.”

The statement did not specify any outside countries, but criticized both the Tripoli government’s “illegal obstruction” of an audit of Libya’s banking sector and Saturday’s statement by Hifter’s forces and an incursion by Hifter-allied Russian mercenaries into a vast oil field last month.

Hifter’s forces launched an offensive in April last year to try to capture Tripoli. The offensive quickly stalled, however, and in recent weeks Hifter’s forces have fallen back as the Tripoli-allied militias, with Turkish support, gained the upper hand.