LibyaÂ’s western-backed rebels have used up their stock of crude oil, with no certainty about when production can resume from vulnerable south-eastern oil fields, the main exporting company under opposition control has said.
The small refinery at Tobruk, the maritime export terminal near the Egyptian border, shut down late last week after using up the last oil in storage, according to Abdel Jalil Mayouf, spokesman for Arabian Gulf Oil Co (Agoco).
The new authorities in eastern Libya have held major oil fields roughly 500 kilometres to the south since the February uprising, including the countryÂ’s largest, Sarir, with potential output of more than 200,000 barrels a day in normal circumstances.
But forces loyal to Muammar al-Gaddafi, LibyaÂ’s ruler for nearly 42 years, hold nearby towns to the west, keeping the rebel oil fields exposed to surprise attacks across the open desert. Lightly armed mercenaries in small 4x4 vehicles have slipped through despite Nato air cover for anti-Gaddafi forces.
| So the rebels need either to get some reliable forces into those fields to hold them against the mercs, or they need to hire reliable outsiders. But as they note -- |
Agoco halted production in early April amid fears about the safety of oil workers. Training troops to ward off assaults will take time. Yet officials in Benghazi, the temporary government centre for the rebels, have ruled out hiring private security firms to protect the oil fields.
“We don’t want to repeat the debacle we’ve seen, for example, in Iraq,” said Ali Tarhouni, provisional minister of finance and oil. Some US security firms antagonised Iraqis after the US-led invasion in 2003.
| Fair enough. Hire some reliable Arabs (I know, I know, sometimes the humor just flows...) |
The provisional government is low on money, despite intensifying discussions about financial assistance with Arab and western allies. The Transitional National Council has so far failed to obtain loans against frozen assets tied to the old regime.
The rebels have partly refilled their treasury with three tanker shipments out of Tobruk: two fulfilling earlier contracts and the latest under a deal with Qatar, the gas-rich Arab state keeping the uprising afloat financially, Mr Mayouf said.
While the last export shipment netted $150m, the provisional government has spent $480m on fuel, Mr Tarhouni said. Eastern Libya imports much of its gasoline, while maintaining the rock-bottom subsidised price of 0.15 cents a litre at the pump.
| There's something that they should fix immediately. It's time for the population to understand the concept of 'total war' -- everything for the war effort. |
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