Libya’s rival government wants to send its appointed oil minister to the Opec summit in Vienna this week and will refuse to comply with any production decisions if it is denied access, the minister said.
Libya has two cabinets and parliaments vying for legitimacy since a rival group took control of the capital Tripoli in August, installing its own prime minister and assembly and forcing the country’s internationally recognised prime minister, Abdullah al-Thinni, to move his operations to the east of the country.
If the government of Libya gets represented by non-legitimate members, we will take legal action
The United Nations and world powers have not recognised rival Prime Minister Omar al-Hassi, but his political alliance controls major ministries in Tripoli.
“We are the legitimate government. We want to present Libya at this meeting,” he said in an interview late on Tuesday. “We haven’t yet received an invitation ... I’ve heard the other side got an invitation,” Mashallah Zwai, Hassi’s oil minister, said, referring to al-Thinni’s Cabinet.
The rival government’s plans to attend the Opec summit may pose a test for the international community over choosing an authority to deal with in the major oil producer, which is caught up in strife three years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. Al-Thinni is operating from the east, to where the elected Parliament has also moved its base.
Libya will not comply with any decisions taken in Vienna if Zwai cannot go with his delegation, which includes National Oil Corp (NOC) Chairman Mustafa Sanallah and its Opec governor, the minister said, sitting in the NOC office that had been used by previous oil ministers.
“If the government of Libya gets represented by the non-legitimate government, then we will take legal action,” he said, adding that suspending Libya’s membership or not paying fees were options.
Al-Thinni’s government is planning to send its own three-person delegation to the Opec meeting, its spokesman Mohammed Bazaza said. He provided no names.
In an attempt to reassure buyers of Libyan oil over the control of petroleum exports, Zwai said his government would not interfere in the business of the NOC and that the central bank was handling oil sales.
“We will be using the same payment system. We try to keep the central bank and the NOC out of this fighting,” he said, referring to the political conflict. “We don’t want to change the system. This is our responsibility to the Libyan people.”
The Libyan central bank has managed to stay out of the conflict and currently keeps almost all oil revenue on its accounts, paying out only state salaries and essential food subsidies.