TRIPOLI, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) on Thursday rejected the Libyan eastern-based army's handing over of the oil crescent region to the eastern government, instead of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli.
"The European Union and the rest of the international community, as set out in several UN Security Council Resolutions on Libyan oil, have consistently opposed any attempt to sell or purchase Libyan oil outside the official channels managed by the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC)," the EU delegation to Libya said in a statement.
"Recent statements calling for oil exports from the Eastern oil terminals to be approved by entities other than the legitimate NOC are therefore unacceptable and contravene UN Security Council Resolutions," it said.
Any illegal action that may jeopardize the country's oil industry must be avoided, it added.
Despite signing a UN-sponsored peace agreement by the Libyan political parties in 2015, Libya remains politically divided between eastern and western governments, both competing for legitimacy.
A terrorist group called Benghazi Defense Brigades, allied with Ibrahim Jathran, a wanted ex-chief of the oil installation guards service, recently launched an attack on the Libyan oil crescent region and clashed with the eastern-based army.
A few days later, the army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, took over the region and expelled the terror groups.
The oil crescent region, located some 500 km east of the capital Tripoli, boasts the country's largest oil ports.
The army's spokesman Ahmad Mismari said on Monday that Haftar has decided to hand over the oil crescent region to the National Oil Corporation of the eastern-based interim government, instead of the Tripoli-based UN-backed unity government.
The UN-backed government in Tripoli on Tuesday called on the UN Security Council to stop any "illegal sale" of oil, saying that such acts will increase division and undermine years of local and international efforts to achieve stability.
Oil rich Libya has been plagued by insecurity and chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
Oil and gas, accounting for 94 percent of Libya's foreign exchange earnings, are key sources of income in the country.
Libya has suffered losses of more than 140 billion U.S. dollars in the past years due to repeated closures of the oil fields and ports, as well as low oil prices in global market.
Libya has one of Africa's largest oil reserves of 41 billion barrels.
