Libya asks U.N. council to blacklist ship carrying eastern oil

Libya has asked the United Nations Security Council to blacklist an Indian-flagged tanker on its way to Malta carrying crude oil shipped by the rival eastern Libya government, Libya’s U.N. envoy said.

Libyan Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi told Reuters he had written to the Security Council sanctions committee to complain about the first shipment of oil by the rival authorities, which left the eastern Libyan port of Hariga overnight.

The eastern government has set up its own National Oil Company (NOC) to act in parallel to the Tripoli-based NOC that is recognized internationally as the only legitimate seller of Libyan oil.

“We mainly asked for the designation of the ship,” Dabbashi said. “We spoke with members of the Indian Mission and gave them the letter we sent to the sanctions committee.”

India’s U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Indian-flagged tanker Distya Ameya was carrying an oil shipment ordered by a company called DSA Consultancy FZC, registered in the United Arab Emirates, according to Libyan authorities.

A U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the sanctions committee had written to the governments of India and the United Arab Emirates to remind them of the sanctions and seek further clarification and relevant information.

In March 2014, the Security Council authorized states to board ships suspected of carrying oil from rebel-held Libyan ports and allowed the Libyan government to request that vessels carrying the oil be blacklisted by the sanctions committee.

A 2011 uprising in Libya toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi but left the country in chaos.

Two competing governments, one in Tripoli and one in the east, backed by militias scrambled for control of the oil-producing country, creating a power vacuum that allowed Islamic State militants to gain a foothold in the North African state.

Leaders of a U.N.-backed Libya unity government, designed to replace the rival administrations, arrived in Tripoli last month. That government said on Monday it had taken administrative control of seven ministries in Tripoli.