North Korean Tanker Carrying Rebel Oil Flees Libya Into International Waters

The strange saga of the “Morning Glory” is not over yet.

The North Korean-flagged tanker — which sailed on Monday from a rebel-held port in Libya carrying a shipment of crude oil worth some $38 million — managed to slip away from Libyan warships that had intercepted it, rebels and state oil company officials said on Tuesday.

If confirmed, the tanker’s escape would mark the first successful international oil sale carried out by Libyan rebels in the face of the central government — and the latest in a series of blows that have seriously undermined confidence in the latter’s grip over the country.

Representatives of Libya’s National Oil Corporation said that the vessel was being escorted back to a government-controlled port in the west of the country when it took advantage of poor weather conditions to make its escape into the Mediterranean.

"The tanker left and is now in international waters," Mohammad Hitab, a spokesman for the state-run al Waha Oil Company, told Reuters.

Unconfirmed reports also emerged that the “Morning Glory” caught fire after being hit by a missile while sailing in international waters. A military spokesman told Reuters that Libyan gunboats chased the tanker along the country's eastern Mediterranean coast and opened fire, damaging the vessel.

That was the latest dramatic twist to a bizarre escalation. Considering that the Libyan government threatened over the weekend to bomb the tanker if it attempted to leave with the precious cargo, Monday’s impounding was a relatively peaceful conclusion to a heated standoff between the North African government and Libyan rebels over the North Korean-flagged vessel — a rare presence in Mediterranean waters. The tanker getting away is now opening up the field for Tripoli’s retaliation.

On Monday, the Libyan government had already promised military action against the rebels and US officials had promised “penalties” to anyone buying oil from them.

The tanker’s origin itself remains a mystery: the National Oil Corp. said that the vessel was Saudi-owned and had recently switched owners, but Saudi officials maintained that the kingdom had no connection to the ship. The tanker started flying North Korea’s colors in late February, when it also changed its name from “Gulf Glory” to “Morning Glory.” It had previously flown under the Liberian flag.

The incident highlighted a growing problem for Libya, where militias who helped topple the regime of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011 have refused to turn in their weapons. Some are increasingly challenging state authority and asserting control over the country’s resources and access points.

The port of Es Sider — Libya's largest export terminal and one of three ports held by rebels who demand greater autonomy from the state — sits in the oil-rich region of Barqa, and is under the control of a rebel militia called the Petroleum Defense Guards.

The sale of crude oil to the North Korean-flagged tanker was the first shipment to foreign buyers since the rebels took control of the ports. The successful shipment deals a serious blow to Libya’s already weak central government, which has little control beyond the capital of Tripoli.

The rebel group in control of Es Sider relies on a force of about 17,000 fighters — half the size of the Libyan national army — and pledged to defend the region’s oil fields “with all the strength we have,” its commander Ibrahim al Jathran told VICE News.

“Our strategy is the strategy of demanding a federal country,” said Jathran — a hero of the 2011 civil war to some, a warlord to others. “First, for real participation in decision making. Secondly, to get our fair share of the wealth so we can have real development in all the states.”

Tribal leaders have unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate with Jathran on behalf of the government, but the 33-year-old has continued to recruit buyers willing to dock at the seized ports despite the threat of retaliation from Tripoli.

The rebels are demanding that the Barqa region receive 15 percent of national crude revenue. Barqa generally produces more than half of Libya's oil.

Prime Minister Ali Zaidan insists that the adoption of a new constitution must precede negotiations. The rebels present a growing threat to the government’s already feeble hold on the country. Zaidan himself was briefly kidnapped by rebels last fall, and different groups have been scrambling for control of the country’s resources and terminals.

“Many militias have been in charge of various strategic areas: the ports, the airports, the oil installations, which is the economic backbone of this country,” Anas El Gomati, a political analyst and the founder of Libya’s Sadeq Institute, told VICE News. “The government doesn’t really have a grip on things that really make it a government.”

Until Tuesday, the central government had been able to prevent independent shipments from leaving rebel-held ports. In January, the Libyan navy fired on a Maltese-flagged tanker, which it said had tried to load oil at Es Sider. The US State Department has also promised to penalize anyone who buys Libyan oil without being authorized to do so by the National Oil Corp. and its American business partners.

But the Libyan government has struggled to regain control of the seized facilities, which have already cut Libya’s oil exports from 1.4 million barrels a day to around 235,000. The tanker’s successful escape adds insult to the injury.

“Libya’s oil industry used to account for almost all the government’s revenue and more than 65 percent of the nation’s GDP,” Suroosh Alvi, a VICE News correspondent in Libya, said. “But the militia has turned off the tap, demanding a power sharing agreement with the central government.”

On Monday, before the tanker slipped away, Reuters reported that Libya’s parliament had ordered the formation of a military force to retake all rebel-held oil ports. The military operation is expected to start within a week.

Follow Alice Speri on Twitter: @alicesperi