ENI Eni Spa

By Benoit Faucon

The Libyan authorities have ordered the immediate departure of tankers from Tripoli after an apparent strike hit a nearby vessel, oil officials said Tuesday.

Libyan general Khalifa Haftar has laid siege on Tripoli since last year and recently blocked most of the country's oil flows, the source of virtually all its revenue, in retaliation for a Turkish intervention on the government's side.

One liquefied-petroleum-gas carrier and three "gasoline vessels are instructed to depart Tripoli port immediately," said an official with Libya's National Oil Co., the state-run company running oil production and fuel supplies in the country. Another official said a vessel nearby appeared to have been hit by a strike though the ship's nationality was unclear. A nearby office occupied by a joint-venture between NOC and Italy's Eni SpA was also evacuated, one official said.

The ships' forced departure is a blow to the government, which relies on imports for large parts of its power generation, bottled gas and motor fuel.

Libya's warring sides have resumed Tuesday U.N.-brokered talks aimed at salvaging a fragile cease-fire in the North African country, the U.N. said Tuesday.

But both sides have repeatedly violated the cease-fire, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey on Jan. 12, escalating with the blockade of oil ports by Gen. Haftar. As of Feb. 13, production had fallen to 163,000 barrels a day from 1.2 million barrels a day before the shutdowns, causing losses of $1.4 billion, NOC said last week.

Write to Benoit Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2020 08:59 ET (13:59 GMT)

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