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Container of drugs seized to be smuggled into the country

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The Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the seizure of a drug container, which was attempted to be smuggled into the country.

The office added on Friday that the container contains about 15,000 pieces of marijuana and more than 829,000 psychoactive tablets.

The office confirmed that they began interrogating the accused in the incident, and ordered their pretrial detention pending investigation, in addition to directing the police authorities to seize and bring the rest of the contributors to the incident.

NOC to finalize electricity for gas deal with several oil companies in Libya

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Libya plans to finalize a deal with Eni to develop offshore gas fields as it refocuses on boosting its gas production and tapping some 80 Tcf of proven reserves, the chairman of state-owned National Oil Corp. said on Nov. 1.

“Currently we are in the process of signing an investment with Eni to produce gas offshore, and this is something around $6 to $8 billion [in investments],” Farhat Bengdara told reporters on the sidelines of the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi.

“There is also a program of drilling offshore and onshore that will start soon by Eni and BP. We are in talks with TotalEnergies to invest more in Libya and increase production, and other companies of course,” Bengdara added.

Libya wants to tap some 80 Tcf of proven gas reserves to boost its gas production and export it to nearby markets. Although it has a gas pipeline linked to Italy, there are ideas to have another pipeline from the east linked to Greece, in addition to having a pipeline linked to the Damietta LNG plant in Egypt, Bengdara said. Italy’s Eni leads the SEGAS consortium that owns Damietta LNG.

“Even with expectations of increased domestic consumption . . . we will have a surplus from production [for export] and that’s what we are working on,” he added.

NOC is also in discussions with BP and TotalEnergies about swapping gas with renewables, whereby they invest in producing electricity for Libya in return for gas, Bengdara told an ADIPEC panel earlier, without elaborating.

NOC is courting international oil companies to help boost its oil and gas production, which has languished amid political mayhem that saw oil production drop to 600,000 b/d during the summer.

Libya, which currently has a stable oil production of about 1.2 million b/d, is looking to boost its oil production capacity to 3 million b/d in three to five years, he added.

NOC is planning to invest around $4 billion this year in its operations, but next year’s investments are expected to range between $12 and $15 billion alongside its partners, he said.

Adapted from S&P Global Commodity Insights

Maltese businessmen involved in smuggling Libyan oil

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One of the three remaining Maltese nationals sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control in connection with the smuggling of oil from Libya, Terence Micallef, has been taken off the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals sanctions list

One of the three remaining Maltese nationals sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in connection with the smuggling of oil from Libya, Terence Micallef, has been taken off the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals sanctions list. 

He was added in 2018 together with Darren Debono, Gordon Debono, Rodrick Grech, Fahmi Ben Khalifa and Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan Ahmed Arafa in connection with a fuel smuggling operation linking Libya, Malta and Italy.

A UN probe implicated Micallef in a Malta-based shell company that sold smuggled petroleum products in Europe.

The six men, with 24 companies and seven vessels, were sanctioned over “illicit production, refining, brokering, sale, purchase or export of Libyan oil.” OFAC sanctions prohibit Americans from engaging with the targeted entities and freeze any related property found within US jurisdiction.

The UN investigation reported that Darren Debono used fishing vessels to transport the smuggled fuel out of Libya so that it could be sold in Italian ports.

The crime syndicate is also alleged to have involved Maltese businessman Gordon Debono and Sicilian mafia associate, Nicola Orazio Romeo.

The Debonos were subsequently charged with money laundering in Malta over wealth allegedly derived from fuel smuggling.

Adapted from Malta Today

Headed by an advisor to the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, the founding committee of the African Investment Bank holds its second meeting

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The founding committee of the African Investment Bank discussed today, Thursday, during its second meeting, headed by an advisor to the Central Governor of Libya, African communication efforts during the past period, in the presence of all members of the committee.

The meeting dealt with coordinating local communication through holding meetings with the Presidential Council, the Governor of the Central Bank and the Prime Minister, to put them in the form of executive steps and how to support them through their international meetings, in addition to following up the committee during its meeting the establishment plan in cooperation with the international consultant.

The founding committee of the African Investment Bank adopted the proposed international communication plan according to a timetable approved by the African economic and political forums.

The Libyan Audit Bureau discusses the completion of contracting procedures with the RSM Global team of experts

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Today, Thursday, a delegation from the Libyan Audit Bureau discussed, during a meeting at the headquarters of the international auditing company RSM Global , in London, the completion of contracting procedures with the team of experts of the company ranked among the top ten internationally, to review some institutions and bodies.

This meeting came in preparation for the visit of the Head of the Audit Bureau on the first of December to London to sign a contract to review some of the Libyan investments abroad and the oil sector.

In the presence of Al-Kabeer, Shakshak, Al-Lafi and Al-Kawni, Dbeibeh holds a meeting to follow up on the rates of increase in disclosure and government spending

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A meeting was held under the chairmanship of the two deputies of the Presidential Council, Abdullah Al-Lafi and Musa Al-Kawni, today, Thursday, in the presence of the Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, the Head of the Audit Bureau, the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Ministers of Finance, of Planning, of the State for Cabinet Affairs and the Prime Minister, the advisor to the Governor, and a number of technical departments in various institutions.

During the meeting, the plan for economic reforms and the management due for the current and next phases were discussed. The participants stressed the importance of joint coordination between the supervisory and executive authorities to work towards achieving justice in the distribution, taking into account the population and geographical distribution in development projects.

For his part, Al-Kawni stressed, during his speech, the need to follow up on increasing disclosure rates, and rationalizing spending, working to provide services to citizens, and disclosure and transparency in the various executive and government agencies.

The follow-up committee for judgments issued on Libyan assets abroad discusses the mechanism of executing a number of cases and judgments presented abroad

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Today, Tuesday, the Committee for the Follow-up of Judgments issued on Libyan assets abroad, discussed its fourteenth meeting for the year 2022, headed by the Minister of Justice, Halima Ibrahim, the agenda and recommendations of the committee at its previous meeting, a number of cases and judgments issued abroad, and the mechanism for their implementation in order to ensure the preservation of Libyan assets, in the presence of the Minister of Finance, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Planning, the Director of the Legal Department of the Central Bank of Libya and the Head of the Foreign Disputes Department in the Cases Department.

The meeting ended with a number of recommendations and assigning some authorities to provide the committee with some responses on some related disputes, and to present them to the committee at its next meeting, as well as, following up on some judgments and cases filed abroad.

The National Planning Council supervises the discussions of unifying the Audit Bureau of Tripoli and Al-Bayda

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The two Liaison and Communication Committees formed by the Audit Bureaus of Tripoli and Al-Bayda resumed today, Wednesday in the Tunisian capital, discussions of unifying the Audit Bureau, under the supervision of the Committee for the Unification of National Institutions in the National Planning Council and its international partners, the United Nations Development Program and the United States Institute of Peace.

The two committees discussed appropriate solutions to the issues under study, and reviewed the recommendations of previous meetings, leading to a final draft agreement to unify the Libyan Audit Bureau.

The Higher Committee for Organizing the Productive Families Exhibition in the Central Region makes the necessary arrangements and forms sub-committees to organize it

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Today, Tuesday, the Higher Committee for Organizing the Productive Families Exhibition in the Central Region discussed its first meeting, headed by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Development, Ibrahim Kashira, to make the necessary arrangements and form sub-committees to organize the Productive Families Exhibition and identify the targets to participate in it, according to the decision of the Minister of Social Affairs, Wafa Al-Kilani.

Under the directives of Al-Kilani, the Ministry of Social Affairs should pay great attention to productive families, with regard to their inventory and support and the organization of many exhibitions for them, to display their products, after the Council of Ministers of the Government of National Unity issued a decision to establish the Productive Families Authority, which will provide more care and support for these families, to reflect positively on their social and economic conditions.

The attendees also stressed the need for the largest number of productive families to participate in the exhibition to introduce the production and crafts of the central regions.

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy discusses the mechanism of activating the transit trade and free zones with officials of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry

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On Wednesday, in a meeting with officials of the Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Libya, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy and Trade in the Government of National Unity, Nuri Al-Qatati, discussed the mechanism for activating the transit trade and free zones, and the obstacles facing the chambers of commerce in the performance of their work and ways to overcome them.

Al-Qatati stressed the need to activate industrial and agricultural projects in all regions, as the latest developments and preparations for organizing the Africa Transport and Transit Trade Forum and Exhibition, which is supervised by the Ministry of Economy and Trade and supported by the Misurata Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, were discussed.