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Libya resumes oil shipments to Switzerland
Thu. July 31, 2008 02:27 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. -
(SomaliNet) The Swiss Petroleum Association said on Wednesday that Libya has resumed oil shipments to Switzerland.
The development brings to an end Egypt’s embargo against the Alpine nation to protest the arrest of Muammar Gaddafi's son in Geneva.
On Tuesday, a tanker with 80,000 tonnes of oil left Libya for Switzerland, said Rolf Hartl, Managing Director of the Swiss Petroleum Association. The oil will be refined in the Swiss branch of Libya's state-owned oil company Tamoil in Collombey, he said.
Libya's General National Maritime Transportation Co. last week stopped oil shipments to Switzerland and barred Swiss ships from its ports. The move followed the arrest two weeks ago of Hannibal Gaddafi.
Police arrested him on July 15 at a luxury hotel in Geneva for allegedly beating two servants being used by him and his wife, according to the couple's lawyer. Gaddafi was released on bail three days later and returned to Libya with his wife.
The episode prompted a series of diplomatic recriminations that included Libya recalling some of its diplomats from Switzerland, suspending the issuing of visas for Swiss citizens, reducing the number of flights to Switzerland and detaining two Swiss nationals.
Libya's General National Maritime Transportation Co. says it is the only Libyan-based firm supplying oil to Switzerland.
Libya supplies more than 50 per cent of Switzerland's crude imports, which totalled some 2.5 million tonnes in 2007, according to the latest available Swiss government figures.-Agencies
News Category: Africa
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