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发帖数: 18523 | 1 Libya Oil Chief Says Crude Production ‘Could Reach a Halt’ Due to Conflict
By Ola Galal and Inal Ersan - Mar 20, 2011 7:33 AM GMT+0900
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Libya’s oil production fell to less than 400,000 barrels a day after
foreign companies pulled out their staff, the chairman
of the country’s state-run National Oil Corp., Shokri Ghanem, said in a
televised media conference from Tripoli.
Ghanem said the North African country had no intention of breaking
commitments with foreign companies and called
on them to send their employees back to resume work. Libya may otherwise
award new oil and gas concessions
directly to companies in countries such as China, India and Brazil in order
to raise production, which “could reach a
halt,” he said.
Within hours of Ghanem’s remarks, war planes and naval vessels from the U.S
., Canada, France, the U.K. and Italy
began bombing Libyan air defenses and other military targets to enforce a
United Nations-authorized no-fly zone.
Earlier today, dictator Muammar Qaddafi abandoned a cease-fire he announced
yesterday and ordered an attack on
the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Oil and gas installations in Libya, including the main oil hub of Ras Lanuf,
were damaged in fighting between rebels
seeking the ouster of Qaddafi and forces loyal to him after mass protests
against his four-decade rule erupted on Feb.
17.
Supply Drops
“We are continuing to monitor the situation,” Michaela Huber, a
spokeswoman for Vienna-based OMV AG (OMV), said
in an e-mail. Robert Wine, a spokesman for BP Plc (BP/), said the London-
based company is also keeping an eye on
events in the country.
Daily supply from Africa’s third-largest producer dropped by an estimated
195,000 barrels to 1.385 million barrels in
February, from 1.58 million barrels the previous month, before slumping to a
“trickle” by March 11, the Paris-based
International Energy Agency said in its monthly Oil Market Report.
Oil fell yesterday after the Libyan regime said it would cease military
operations and begin talks with the rebels. Crude
for April delivery dropped 35 cents to settle at $101.07 a barrel on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. Futures were
up as much as 2.2 percent at $103.66 before the Libyan announcement.
Oil prices have risen by more than 10 percent in the past three months as
unrest has spread across the Middle East,
toppling the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ola Galal in Cairo at ogalal@
bloomberg.net; Inal Ersan in Dubai at
i****[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Digby Lidstone at
d*******[email protected] |
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