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Libya’s oilfields closing down over central bank standoff

Published

3 months ago

August 28, 2024

According to two field engineers who spoke to Reuters, an ongoing political dispute over who controls the central bank and oil income led to the Sarir field almost completely stopping production on Wednesday.

Authorities in the east of Libya, where most of the country’s oilfields are located, said on Monday that they would stop all exports and production.

The experts said that Sarir was making around 209,000 barrels per day (bpd) before the output was cut.

Exports from the 300,000 bpd Sharara oilfield were already stopped because of “force majeure.” This week, Reuters reported problems at El Feel, Amal, Nafoora, and Abu Attifel.

Libya was a member of OPEC in July and was making about 1.18 million barrels of oil per day.

The move to cut off Libya’s main source of income comes after the Tripoli-based Presidency Council fired Sadiq al-Kabir as head of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL). This caused rival armed groups to get ready to fight.

This week, Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, who was elected by the Libyan people through a process backed by the UN in 2021, said that oil areas should not be shut down “under flimsy pretexts.” General Michael Langley, head of U.S. Africa Command, and Chargé d’Affaires Jeremy Berndt met Khalifa Haftar on Tuesday. Haftar is in charge of the Libyan National Army, which rules the east and south of the country.

“The United States urges all Libyan stakeholders to engage constructively in dialogue,” the U.S. Embassy in Libya said on social media site X that the UN Support Mission in Libya and the rest of the world were behind them.

A comparison As of 10:39 GMT, Brent oil prices were down 1.2% to $78.35 per barrel. This was because of worries about Chinese demand and the possibility of a wider economic slowdown, which cancelled out worries about possible supply losses from Libya and other places.

Related Topics:Featured Libya Libya's oilfields

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VenturesNow

IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

27 minutes ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

VenturesNow

Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.