US threatens Libyan militias with sanctions for unauthorized oil sales
10 March 2014, 10:34 -- The United States has threatened Libyan militias with sanctions for attempts to illegally sell the oil that belongs to the Libyan National Oil Corporation and its partners, including US companies.
Department spokesperson Jen Psaki has warned that any transactions without prior authorization by the companies in question will entail civil penalty, fines and other likely sanctions. The North Korean-flagged Morning Glory oil tanker cast anchor off the oil loading terminal at Libya's Es Sider port on Saturday.
The Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has threatened to bomb the tanker if the crew fails to comply with the government orders on leaving the port. The Libyan authorities see oil loading as an act of smuggling. But the armed militias warned from their side that they would take an attack on the Morning Glory tanker as a declaration of war.
The militias said earlier they had begun exporting hydrocarbons in circumvention of the country's central government.
Voice of Russia, TASS
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