Market sources claim the 35,000-dwtMorning Glory(built 1993) fled during a bout of bad weather that forced the flotillatasked with preventing its escape to hug the coast, which gave the vessel thedistance it needed to evade capture when a chase ensued.
Some news outlets say the tanker wasdamaged by gunships that opened fire shortly after it set sail forinternational waters but this claim, which Reuters and others attributed to an unnamed spokesmanfor the Libyan military, could not be immediately confirmed at the time ofwriting Tuesday.
Reports that the ship escaped may comeas a surprised since Culture Minister Habib al-Amin and other government officialssaid the military had seized the tanker during a clash with the militia thatcontrols al-Sidra, the port where the ship loaded crude over the weekend.
The rebels denied statements theminister made during a press conference that came just days after Prime MinisterAli Zeidan threatened to order an air strike to prevent the tanker from leavingthe terminal, which is one of at least four held by armed separatists.
The escape of the tanker, which iswidely believed to be the only vessel that has successfully shipped oil out ofa rebel-held Libyan port since the revolt against Tripoli last July, is the latest ina series of embarrassing setbacks for the government.
Shortly after authorities learned thatthe ship had broken through the blockade Libya’s parliament voted Zeidan out ofoffice. The disgraced leader’s title passed to Defence Minister Abdallahal-Thinni, who was sworn in as interim Prime Minister on Tuesday evening.
The location of the Morning Glory isn’tclear as the ship’s tracking system appears to have been off since 1 March,which may not come as a shock since it was hired to load what Libya considersto be stolen oil since the sale was not sanctioned by the state oil company.
When the tanker arrived in the country onSaturday the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) issued a statement in whichit condemned the loading operation as illegal since it “did not transfer thetitle” to what is believed to be at least 234,000 barrels of crude.
“NOC will pursue all of itsremedies to preserve and enforce its rights over the cargo and to holdresponsible all the parties participating in illicit transactions relating toit in any jurisdiction, both within and outside of Libya,” it added in a releaseposted on its website.
The current owner of the Morning Gloryis not known. According to the Equasis database, which identifies the former operator as FalShipping of the UAE, the vessel used to be called the Gulf Glory before itchanged hands last month.
