A severe fuel shortage in oil-rich Libya has led to the suspension of the country's top fuel supply official as tit-for-tat moves between rival governments escalate and sound alarm bells over the fragility of the political status quo.
Rival governments that control different parts of Libya's oil wealth chain are jockeying for position ahead of another showdown that could once again lead to a halt of Libyan oil exports.
On Wednesday, the PM of Libya's Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, suspended the head of the state-run fuel distribution company, Brega Oil Marketing. Brega chairman Fouad Belrahim will remain suspended pending an investigation into his activities, which are said to have led to a domestic fuel shortage and long lines at fuel stations, according to the Libya Observer.
Earlier on Wednesday, Dbeibah demanded the reopening of all fuel stations that had closed in Tripoli due to the shortage of supplies, while the government is now attempting to devise a mechanism for distributing fuel to those stations.
According to the Libya Observer, lines at those fuel stations still open on Wednesday were up to seven miles long.
Prior to the suspension of Chairman Belrahim, Brega attributed the fuel shortage to delays in gasoline tanker arrivals at domestic ports earlier on Wednesday, suggesting that expected tankers would be arriving on Wednesday and Thursday.
GNU Prime Minister Dbeibah, of the Tripoli-based government, is attempting to gain control of oil-related institutions in Libya, and is targeting certain officials in this maneuvering. At the same time, the forces being the eastern-controlled rival government, including strongman General Khalifa Haftar, is similarly jockeying for position, causing disruption at Libya's largest oilfield, Sharara last week in retaliation for being briefly detained on a Spanish arrest warrant for smuggling.
In the meantime, the rival governments are struggling for control over the country's Central Bank, which deals with all oil revenues.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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