(Bloomberg) -- Libya’s prime minister said he wants to quickly resolve a bitter standoff over the OPEC nation’s central bank, with United Nations-mediated talks set to resume on the crisis that’s cut the country’s oil output by more than half.
“We are ready for any solution, whether it’s for the central bank or the government,” Abdul Hamid Dbeibah said Tuesday in his first public remarks on the nearly month-long impasse. “The most important thing is that Libya is united,” he added, in comments aired on local TV.
Dbeibah spoke as the UN mission in the war-torn country said it was readying to reconvene discussions on Wednesday between his government in the capital, Tripoli, and a competing administration in Libya’s east.
The two sides have been at loggerheads since Dbeibah in August moved to replace the central bank governor, manager of billions of dollars in oil wealth. Authorities in the east, where much of Libya’s oil is located, rejected the move against Sadiq Al-Kabir and ordered a shutdown of all crude production and exports.
Daily oil output in the nation that’s home to Africa’s largest reserves has fallen to about 450,000 barrels from more than 1 million before the crisis, although exports have continued to trickle out to global markets. While many fields have stopped production, others have been ordered to ramp up to cover domestic needs for refining and electricity generation, creating mixed signals.
Oil prices in London this week slipped below $70 a barrel, the lowest in more than two years, after jumping late month as Libya’s eastern government announced the output shutdowns.
Libya’s two legislative bodies, the Tripoli-based High State Council in the west and the House of Representatives in Benghazi to the east, earlier this month agreed to appoint a bank governor and board of directors within 30 days.
While the two sides broadly agree on the process, some negotiators want eastern-aligned Al-Kabir to keep his job, while others are demanding a replacement.
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