TRIPOLI — Benghazi port officials have reacted badly to the seizure of an Iranian vessel suspected of holding more than 40 containers of smuggled oil intended for illegal sale by Gulf nationals from Bahrain and the UAE. Members of the Benghazi Supreme Security Committee, together with the Liwa Tahrir brigade and the military police, moved onto the vessel in the early hours of Sunday morning after receiving intelligence that 44 containers of smuggled oil was onboard. A source inside from the SSC's join security room in Benghazi told the Libya Herald that samples of the seized oil products had been sent for analysis and that work was now ongoing to clarify the circumstances surrounding the case. “The traders and buyers of the oil shipment were of Bahraini and UAE nationalities and were residing in Tripoli”, the source added. However, a senior customs official at the port has hit back at the SSC, accusing the body of “wasting public money” in a hotheaded seizure of a ship carrying nothing more controversial than used car oil. “The news of 40 oil containers loaded on a ship docked at Benghazi's port are untrue”, Assistant Chief of Customs Salem Albah told the Libya Herald. “What was loaded in the containers was in fact used car engine oil, which was permitted for export by the Ministry of Economy and with the consent of the Environment Protection Agency. The shipment's customs paperwork has all been submitted and all needed approvals from the technical and administrative management have been obtained. “The buyer was a UAE company and the seller was Addob Libyan Company”, Albah continued, adding that “crude oil cannot be exported in containers.” The official was unable to conceal his frustration at the SSC, who, he said had not only squandered public money, but had also led to unnecessary delays and disruptions to the port's work, as well as contributing to the distribution of unfounded and potentially damaging rumors. As yet, there has been no confirmation as to whether the shipment was crude oil intended for illegal sale or not, but one independent oil expert has told this paper that there is a used car oil market between Libya and the UAE. “There are some people collecting used car oil and selling it to Dubai”, said Mohammed Albadaly, chairman of the JAWF oil company, which conducts oil field services on behalf of the NOC. “Whilst crude oil can only be sold through the NOC, there are no such restrictions on used car oil, which is either thrown away or sold, and consequently you have people involved in that market.” — Libya Herald
