Tanker carrying eastern Libya's first attempted oil export diverted to western port - eastern NOC head

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - The head of a parallel National Oil Corporation (NOC) set up by Libya's eastern government said on Thursday that a tanker carrying its first intended oil export shipment was being diverted to the western port of Zawiya, but the company would continue to fight for its right to sell crude. The eastern NOC had hoped to sell the cargo of 650,000 barrels in defiance of authorities in Tripoli, but the United Nations blacklisted the tanker, requiring states to ban it from entering any port. The rival Tripoli NOC and its international backers say that if the eastern government succeeds in its long-held aim of selling oil independently, it would undermine a U.N.-backed unity government that arrived in Tripoli last month and put the political and economic future of Libya at risk. But both the eastern government and the eastern NOC have insisted in recent days that they have a right to export. "This is a legal issue and we will work on it," eastern NOC head Nagi al-Maghrabi told Reuters. (Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Andrew Roche)