Glencore Plc oil chief Alex Beard defended the company’s crude-export contract with Libya’s National Oil Corp. in the west of the divided country after the competing administration in the east threatened to block its tankers. “International oil companies and the international community fully support NOC’s position,” Beard said in a statement, confirming for the first time the September deal with the state-run NOC to ship oil from the Marsa al-Hariga port. “They have made it very clear there is no alternative to the NOC at its legal address in Tripoli as the only recognized marketer of Libyan oil.” The comments follow claims earlier this week from the competing NOC arm in the internationally recognized government in eastern Libya that it will try to stop any tanker operating for Glencore from loading oil at the nation’s ports. The country’s eastern NOC had sent a letter to Glencore seeking to confirm […]