Last Friday, news broke that the Benghazi Defense Brigades seized control of two major Libyan ports on the “Oil Crescent,” posing a real challenge to Khalifa Haftar and Russia’s grip on the area after weeks of clashes. According to the unified National Oil Corporation (NOC), the takeover of the Ras Lanuf and Es Sider ports has caused exports to fall by roughly 80,000 barrels per day to a rate of 620,000 bpd. The commercially vital area has now turned into a military zone with Haftar’s Libya National Army on the sidelines. The BDB clarified this week that it had handed the crucial ports over to the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG), which is allied with the United Nations-sanctioned Government of National Accord in Tripoli – an institution Haftar has repeatedly refused to recognize after multiple invitations to join its leadership hierarchy. The latest refusal came in Cairo, a city considered […]