Libya's internationally-recognised government has said that Glencore has signed its new oil deal with the wrong people, according to a report from The Guardian.
The Switzerland-based company agreed last week to buy up to half of the oil exports from the Tripoli-based National Oil Corporation (NOC), where an Islamist-backed government is based.
Under the deal, Glencore would buy crude oil from the Sarir and Messla fields, exported via Tobruk’s Marsa el-Hariga port in the east.
But Nagi Elmagrabi, chairman of the Tobruk-based NOC, told Bloomberg that the government in the east of the country could physically prevent Glencore tankers from using Libyan ports.
He said that he had written to Glencore asking for an explanation but not yet received a reply.
While Glencore has not commented on the deal, a spokesman for the Tripoli NOC told media that it has deal with Glencore to sell the oil, but did not elaborate.
(Source: The Guardian, Bloomberg)
(Glencore image via Shutterstock)
