The Oil Facilities Guard of Libya’s east-based army on Tuesday announced a decision to reopen the country’s oil ports and resume oil export after months of closure.
Oil ports can restart operations in order to “preserve the production and export areas, as well as the existing oil installations, such as gas and oil tanks, pipelines, and exploration equipment,” Naji al-Maghrabi, commander of the Oil Facilities Guard, said in a statement.
Frequent power blackouts in power plants due to a lack of fuel supply are another reason to reopen the ports, al-Maghrabi said.
The decision was made on the order of General Khalifa Haftar, the east-based army’s commander, after he met with officials of the east-based government, al-Maghrabi added.
Libya is politically divided between rival authorities in the east and the west despite an UN-sponsored political agreement and the appointment of the UN-backed Government of National Accord in 2015
