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The Libyan dinar recovered some of its value in the black/parallel market against the major hard currencies Wednesday after steady losses over the last week. One popular exchange site quoted a low of LD 6.27 Tuesday, before recovering to LD 5.61 to the dollar Wednesday. The sharp fall in the dinar exchange rate has caused much consternation on traditional and social media as programmes lined up analysts to explain the causes of the dinar loss. The Central Bank of Libya released its October statistics bulletin this week which showed demand for foreign exchange rising. He said the lack of a general strategy for banks contributed to the sudden rise in the price of the dollar.

Another batch of stranded 161 Nigerians have been repatriated back from Tripoli, Libya. They arrived the country through the cargo section of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The Nigerians were flown into the country aboard Al Buraq Air with registration number 5A-DMG and flight number BRQ189/07.TSINK.MJI which touched down at the Cargo Wing of the airport about 11 pm on Tuesday. The flight departed Tripoli, Libya at about 1722 hours. On ground to receive them at the Lagos airport were officials of NAPTIP, Refugee Commission and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Expertise France Libya reported Monday that the team appointed by the Tripoli based Libyan Ministry of Economy and Trade to work on the Libyan Free Zone Strategy, led by the Ministry’s Undersecretary for Free Zones, Nuri Al-Gatati, visited in Morocco the Tangier Free Zone, the Industrial Zone, the Logistics Zone for Shipping Services, and several factories and companies. The visit came on the sidelines of the Moroccan-Libyan Business Forum, which concluded its activities on 3 November in Tangiers. The ministry’s team was accompanied by members of Expertise France in Libya. Learning from the Moroccan experienceExpertise France Libya said the visit aims to support the team by learning from the Moroccan experience in the field of free zones in terms of legislation, tax and customs exemptions, geographical features, infrastructure, etc. This visit, Expertise France Libya explained, comes within the framework of the efforts made by the Ministry of Economy and Trade to prepare a national strategy for free zones in Libya to expand trade, improve the investment climate, and support growth and economic diversification.

Austrian multinational integrated oil, gas and petrochemical company OMV will resume exploration in Libya’s Sirte Basin in February 2024, according to a statement. OMV had paused its upstream operations in the basin following the declaration of force majeure in 2014, which was lifted in September last year. The milestone is in line with efforts by the Libyan government to enhance the country’s oil and gas reserves as well as production capacity.

“We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and the release of hostages.”The G7 meeting was, in part, an attempt to contain the worsening humanitarian crisis while also keeping broader differences on Gaza from deepening. Since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the G7 has held together in defense of the international order that originally emerged after the destruction of World War II. Israel remains unconvinced and Arab and Muslim nations are demanding an immediate full cease-fire, something the United States opposes. There have been some small cracks in the G7 over Gaza, which has inflamed international public opinion. Democracies are not immune from intense passions that have manifested themselves in massive pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel demonstrations in G7 capitals and elsewhere.

Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced yesterday that the Algerian state energy company Sonatrach is willing and ready to return and work fully in Libya, after it lifted the state of force majeure on its exploration areas in August this year. New Sonatrach CEO Hachichi Tripoli visitThe announcement came during the visit conducted Tuesday by Sonatrach CEO Rachid Hachichi, who, for his part, stressed the importance of maintaining economic relations and strategic cooperation in a way that preserves the interests of the two countries. This, he continued, in addition to resuming its activity in Libya, completing its contractual obligations, initiating the development of discovered fields, and enhancing ways of cooperation in the areas of implementing oil and gas projects, services and training. 2021 MoUA memorandum of understanding was previously signed during a meeting held in Tripoli between the former NOC Chairman, Mustafa Sanalla, and the former Sonatrach CEO, Tawfiq Hakar in 2021. Eni, BP and Sonatrach lift force majeure, resume contractual obligations in their oil and gas blocks (libyaherald.com)NOC’s Sanalla meets Algeria’s Sonatrach to discuss resumption of cooperation (libyaherald.com)Algeria’s Sonatrach withdraws staff from Libya (libyaherald.com)

UN envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, said he attended on Tuesday in Tunis the opening session of the Libyan 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC) retreat, in the presence of the Co-Chairs of the Security Working Group of the Berlin process. The meeting reviewed the recent political and security developments in Libya, according to Bathily.

The Medusa subsea cable, which spans 8,760km in length, will have two new landing points in Libya, connecting the coastal cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. Ibrahem Rahab CEO of LUIC and Norman Albi managing director of Medusa and AFR-IX telecom attended the signing ceremony in Tripoli earlier this week. Some segments of the Medusa cable house up to 24 fibre pairs capable of transmitting 20Tbs per fibre pair. At present, Libya has 13 cable landing stations along the country’s north coast, with only four subsea cables connecting them. Once complete the landing of the Medusa submarine cable system in Libya will significantly improve the country’s connectivity and communication infrastructure, which will foster economic development and regional integration.

Oil prices struggled on Wednesday after sliding to their lowest levels in over three months in the previous session, according to Reuters. Brent crude futures advanced by 15 cents to $81.76 a barrel by 0636 GMT, while U.S. crude futures dipped 2 cents to $77.35 a barrel. Both declined to the lowest since July 24 on Tuesday.

Apart from the prize money awarded to the winners, all 15 finalists will receive a year of technical support and resources to help them accelerate and expand their work. The awards ceremony was the third for the Earthshot Prize and the first in Asia. Ardern, a trustee of the Earthshot board, said before the ceremony that Earthshot had helped amplified the solutions needed to fight climate change. The ceremony came ahead of the COP28 U.N. climate change summit in Dubai, which starts Nov. 30 and will include a speech by William's father, King Charles III. It’s already warmed about 1.1 degrees (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the mid-1800s.

A rival government in the east, the Government of National Stability, controls around three-quarters of the country’s oil production capacity. NOC estimates that Libya will need about US$4 billion of investment a year to improve infrastructure and build oil production to 2 million b/d. However, even in our high case we do not expect NOC’s target of 2 million b/d to be achieved. The spectre of oil production shut-ins continues to hang over Libya. And alongside outages from ageing infrastructure, investment will remain too low to achieve significant increases in the short to medium term.

The Federal Government, in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration, evacuated 161 Nigerian migrants stranded in Libya on Tuesday. Ambassador Kabiru Musa, Chargé D’Affaires En Titre of the Nigerian Mission in Libya stated in Abuja that the Voluntary Humanitarian Repatriation exercise was to ensure that migrating Nigerians were not stranded abroad. “They will be received by officials on arrival to facilitate their resettlement and reintegration into the society,’’ Musa stated. He added that beyond repatriation, the Mission, in collaboration with relevant agencies had continued to sensitise Nigerians against irregular migration which is fraught with danger including forced labour, prostitution, and slavery. Musa noted that the Federal Government would not relent in its efforts to ensure that no Nigerian was left stranded or abandoned in detention facilities in Libya.

Turkey has rejected for the 11th time to allow the European Union's naval Operation IRINI team to inspect a ship that the operation described as “suspicious,” according to the Italian Nova news agency. According to the agency, since the launching of Operation IRINI in March 2020, Turkey has refused to allow IRINI, which is tasked with implementing the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations on Libya, to inspect its ships six times in 2021, three times in 2022, and twice in 2023. Operation IRINI's work includes combating illicit arms trafficking, supporting the implementation of the arms embargo imposed on Libya on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and collecting information on oil smuggling.

The Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Council, Mussa Al-Koni, and Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh discussed today the implementation of strategic projects in the south of the country. According to a statement by the council, the two leaders spoke about the activation of Murzuq’s Reconstruction Fund. The two also addressed the problems and difficulties that hinder the provision of services to citizens in many sectors, in particular health, education, infrastructure.