Islamic State fighters
resumed attacks on a key oil terminal in eastern Libya, setting a second tank
on fire, a Libyan oil official said on Tuesday.
The attacks stoked fears
the North African country’s oil industry is the next target for the radical
Islamist group. They came just weeks after representatives of Libya’s two rival
governments signed a
power-sharing
agreement
that
called for the formation of a national-unity government by mid-January.
A crude-oil storage tank
ignited after the Islamic State attacked the Es Sider terminal for a second
day, a spokesman for Libya’s National Oil Co. said. Another facility caught
fire after the extremist group shot at the neighboring Ras Lanuf oil port
on Monday
.
Both sites are more than 400
miles east of Tripoli, the nation’s capital.
Statements circulated Monday by Islamic State’s Eastern Libyan branch on
Twitter
later claimed responsibility for a previous car bombing in Es Sider,
showing the pictures of the four fighters, who the group said had died in the
attack.
Es Sider and Ras Lanuf,
which can ship as much as 560,000 barrels a day together or nearly half of the
country’s export capacity of 1.3 million barrels a day, have been shut for over
a year. But they still contain large quantities of oil in storage. One Libyan
oil official said the burning oil tank held 500,000 barrels.
Islamic State has been
making inroads in Libya, following setbacks in its strongholds in Syria and
Iraq.
The group has
taken control
of the city of Sirte and has
developed a presence in the city of Ajdabiya—both close to the attacked
terminals—Western security officials have said. The group has also become
increasingly assertive in Sabratah, which is close to a western Libyan oil and
gas terminal partly owned by Italy’s
Eni
SpA, Libyan and Western
security officials have said.
Libya’s oil production has
been crippled by a violent conflict between rival factions vying for power. The
country once produced as much as 1.5 million barrels a day but now produces
less than one-third of that amount, according to the National Oil Co.
It is unclear if the peace
agreement struck by rival Libyan factions last month will help
revive
the country’s oil industry.
(Wall Street Journal)