Benghazi, Libya--Libya's internationally recognised government has moved to divert revenues from the long-established state oil company and Central Bank to its own coffers -- in an effort experts warn is "risky" and likely to fail.
Libya has been run by two governments and two parliaments since August, when an Islamist-backed militia alliance overran the capital Tripoli.
The government recognised by the international community fled to the country's far east and set up in the city of Tobruk.
The National Oil Corporation, founded in 1970, is based in Tripoli where Libya's Central Bank -- the depositor of the country's oil wealth -- also has its headquarters.
The NOC and Central Bank have so far remained neutral in the conflict, continuing to operate independently of any administration.
But, cut off from vital funding, the Tobruk government announced last month the creation of a rival corporation -- the National Oil Company -- in second city Benghazi.
It took another step on Saturday, instructing the company to begin exporting crude, to open a bank account in the United Arab Emirates and to set up offices in Britain, Germany and the United States.
The chairman of the Benghazi-based NOC, Mabrook Abu Seif, told AFP that it had already begun negotiating with oil firms that have contracts with its Tripoli rival.
Abu Seif did not name the companies or provide details on the nature of the talks, but he insisted that old contracts would be "respected and implemented once obstacles are removed".
AFP
