Libya Awalan TV joins CNN’s global affiliate network

CNN International has announced that Libya Awalan TV (which translates as ‘Libya First’) is to join its global network of affiliates. The partnership is the first with a private network in Libya and adds to CNN’s global presence, as well as its strength in North Africa.

Libya Awalan TV was founded in March 2011, shortly after the conflict in Libya began, and made its inaugural broadcast a few weeks later on 1 April. It employs more than 200 people and has control rooms in Tripoli and Benghazi, as well as in Cairo. During the Libya conflict, Awalan’s reporters brought detailed reports from across the country, and the station continues to report on Libya’s ongoing recovery in five daily news bulletins and across breaking news.

Deborah Rayner, VP and managing editor at CNN International, said: “Libya Awalan’s bravery and commitment to independent journalism during the conflict in Libya was an example to any news network, and their ongoing commitment to serious reporting is there for all to see. They will be valuable partners to CNN International and we’re delighted to be welcoming them to our affiliate family.”
Hassan Tatanaki, founder and chairman of Libya Awalan TV, added: “CNN is the original 24-hour news channel and a network that continues to set the standard in global news. It has a long-standing presence in and passion for our region, so to become part of its affiliate network is a proud moment for us as a young channel. We hope we can make a strong contribution to CNN’s reporting in a new and free Libya and beyond.”

Libya Awalan has recently covered a range of stories in Libya, from tribal clashes in the deserts of Kufra, to illegal immigration, student demonstrations in Benghazi, and the children returning to school in Zawiya. It regularly interviews Transitional National Council ministers and officials from the transitional government. Its programming includes news, political, social, and health reports, as well as sports coverage.

 

Venture Capital Bank Acquires Stake in Major Oil Drilling Company

MANAMA, Bahrain, November 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Venture Capital Bank (VC
 Bank), a Bahrain-based investment bank, along with its partner, the US
 private equity firm Global Emerging markets (GEM), have acquired a
 significant stake in the MENA-based oil drilling contractor Challenger
 Limited. Established in 1991, Challenger currently owns and operates a
 fleet of 22 rigs in Libya providing drilling and work-over services of oil,
 gas and water wells, with offices in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

 The acquisition was co-funded by VC Bank and its strategic technical
 partner GEM illustrating VCBank's non-conventional pursuit to attract North
 American and European funds and sources of capital to investment
 opportunities in the MENA region. This significant transaction was
 completed by a team from VC Bank and GEM, not only strengthening the
 successful partnership between the two firms, but demonstrating that the
 region hosts many attractive, yet obscured, investment opportunities
 represented in privately held companies such as Challenger that operates
 mainly in Libya. 

 The conclusion of this transaction by VCBank depicts the dimensions of
 the Bank's mandate to secure unique and attractive deals in the region for
 its investors and at the same time provide expansion and financing
 solutions to the regional small-to-medium enterprises in order to fulfill
 their untapped potential. Thus, the investment made in Challenger is
 mutually beneficial to both parties, allowing Challenger to achieve its
 growth plan and helping VC Bank to achieve its objectives of supporting
 regional companies and contributing towards the economies of the MENA
 region.

$25b needed to boost crude output

Tripoli: Libya's oil industry will need at least $25 billion (Dh91.8 billion) in investment to increase its oil production to two million barrels a day, said the chairman of drilling-rig operator Challenger Ltd.

"Fields need to be developed, others redeveloped," Hassan Tatanaki said in a telephone interview on Friday. "The Libyan oil industry needs a lot of revamping. We have to reinvest to be able to get the proper cost effective amount into the industry in terms of the country's production level."

The armed conflict in Libya, holder of Africa's largest proven reserves, has reduced the nation's output to 100,000 barrels a day in July from the 1.6 million barrels pumped before the uprising started in February. A full recovery of production may take as long as three years, according to analysts' estimates.

Tatanaki, 53, said he intends to play a role in rebuilding Libya's oil industry, of which Challenger's 35 rigs across the country "are the core".

His Libya Al Hurra charity, set up shortly after the unrest began, has been providing humanitarian aid and relief to refugees and those displaced by the conflict in Libya operating out of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and the US.

"We're not just concentrating on just medical and food supplies," Tatanaki said. "We also want to play a part in other ways so that in the next year or so we have a proper constitution, transparency that helps create a democracy."

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi continued to battle revolutionaries in the Libyan capital Tripoli, as the opposition National Transitional Council said the North African nation's humanitarian aid needs are "urgent".

Rebel leaders worked to retrieve assets frozen by the United Nations and individual countries in an effort to obtain funding for food, and humanitarian and medical needs, transitional council Chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil said at a press conference in Benghazi on Friday.

Since fighting began in Libya, the number of people killed has "exceeded 20,000", Abdul Jalil said.

Refinery to restart

A refinery official says a major rebel-held refinery near Tripoli shut down since Libya's rebellion flared will soon start up again, which should ease fuel shortages that have sent prices spiralling.

Mohammad Aziz, a long-time operations manager at the Zawiya refinery, says, "After tomorrow, it will be operational."

He says the refinery will start processing stored crude first, and hopes to begin receiving new supplies from the south in two days.

Anti-regime revolutionaries control much of Tripoli and have secured the road from the capital to Zawiya on Libya's coast.

In Tripoli in recent days, the cost of a 20-litre can of petrol has leapt to about 120 dinars (Dh360), some 28 times the price before fighting broke out months ago.


Source: http://gulfnews.com/business/oil-gas/25b-needed-to-boost-crude-output-1.858114