Libya PM Threatens to Sink Oil Tankers Near Coast

With rising prices of Brent crude oil fueling concerns about the European markets, Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has added even more reason for pessimism, openly threatening to sink oil tankers in the Mediterranean.

Libya has been facing months of unrest, with Cyrenaica aiming for more autonomy and protesters effectively moving several eastern ports from government control.

Instead of figuring that just leaves that oil forever ungettable, tankers are keen to just go to the east coast and deal with whoever the de facto controllers of the ports are at any given time, but Zeidan says any ships getting too close will be attacked and sunk.

Underscoring that threat, a Maltese-flagged tanker was reportedly attacked in international waters by the Libyan Navy. The ship was said to be trying to go to Es-Sider, one of the ports in question.

The current Libyan government is a product of the NATO-imposed regime change, and retains only tentative control over much of the country. The government is dominated by Gadhafi-era defectors, and a number of the militias involved in the initial ousted of Gadhafi have gone their separate ways, clashing with one another over spheres of influence.