By John Lee.
The tanker that the Tobruk government had been using to try to export oil from Eastern Libya has returned to the country on Saturday, after it was blacklisted by the United Nations and refused entry to Malta.
The eastern government's parallel oil company had hoped to sell the Indian-flagged Distya Ameya's cargo of 650,000 barrels of oil, which had been loaded at the Eastern port of Marsa al-Hariga, but following the UN's decision the tanker took the oil to the Western port of Zawiya.
Mustafa Sanalla (pictured), Chairman of the Tripoli-based National Oil Corporation (NOC) said:
"This incident is a clear warning to all ship owners and trading companies that oil exports from Libya by any other entity than the National Oil Corporation of Libya are illegal and will be stopped."
"The Libyan individuals behind this attempt risked splitting the country by their reckless actions."
(Source: NOC)
