Libyan oil minister charged with corruption

Libya's attorney general has ordered the detention of oil minister Khalifa Rajab Abdulsadek on corruption charges, potentially ending a period of dysfunction during which two people were simultaneously holding the role.

In a statement, the Attorney General's Office alleged that the oil minister of the internationally recognized government in Tripoli had illegally threatened an accounting officer to force him to "approve a document authorizing the disposal of 457,000 euros and 600,000 euros for the benefit of a foreign company".

Sources and local media reports confirmed it was Abdulsadek who had been charged with behavior "inconsistent with his job duties", rather than rival oil minister Mohamed Aoun.

Abdulsadek could not be immediately reached for comment.

He was appointed interim oil minister in the Government of National Unity in March, rising from deputy minister, after Aoun was suspended by the Administration Control Authority, a watchdog, over a corruption investigation.

When the probe was subsequently dropped and Aoun returned to work in May, Abdulsadek -- who has ties to GNU prime minister Abdul Hamid al-Dbeiba -- refused to make way. For months, the two men have held the role of oil minister, operating from neighboring buildings. Abdulsadek also sits on the board of the Libyan National Oil Company.

Confusion over who was heading the ministry posed a fresh challenge for international oil companies, which have lifted forces majeures and returned to Libya in recent years in a bid to tap Africa's largest oil reserves.

The country has been plagued by political chaos since the fall of Moammar Qadhafi in 2011, with influential actors including Dbeiba, NOC chairman Farhat Bengdara and eastern warlord Khalifa Haftar vying for control of the oil sector. The country is run by separate governments in the west and east.

Libya hopes to boost output to 2 million b/d in the next five years, above pre-2011 levels, but political strife continues to threaten those plans.

On July 7, Libya declared force majeure on the 300,000 b/d Sharara oilfield, it's largest by production, after it was shut down on the orders of Haftar's son, according to sources. Saddam Haftar took the action, the sources said, after a Spanish arrest warrant was issued for him related to an alleged botched drone deal. Spain's Repsol is among the operators of the field.

Libya pumped 1.15 million b/d of crude in July, according to the latest Platts OPEC Survey from S&P Global Commodity Insights. Its light, sweet crudes are popular among refiners in the Mediterranean and Northwest Europe.