Libyan crude exports halted
By Tarek El-tablawy |
March 16, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
LIBYA'S oil exports have "ground to a halt" because of the fighting between rebels and pro-government forces, and it could be months before the country's crude resurfaces on world markets, the International Energy Agency said yesterday.
The Paris-based group, whose members are mainly oil-consuming industrial nations such as the United States, also said that production from the north African nation appeared to have "slowed to a trickle" as the fighting and mounting unrest prompted an exodus of foreign oil workers and led international companies to halt their operations in the country.
The IEA said: "What is becoming clearer is the country's oil production and exports could be off the market for many months due to both war-inflicted damage on oil infrastructure and international sanctions."
The fighting in Libya drove oil prices as high as almost US$107 per barrel last week on the New York Mercantile Exchange before they quickly cooled after the massive earthquake that ravaged Japan.
Energy prices yesterday tumbled to the lowest levels this month as world markets react to a growing crisis in Japan. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude dropped US$3.77, almost 4 percent, to US$97.42 per barrel. Brent crude, heating oil, natural gas and gasoline futures also dropped between 2 and 6 percent.
The assessment, presented in the IEA's latest month oil market report, reaffirmed the belief of many in the market that Libya's vital oil industry was all-but-shuttered amid the fighting. The country sits atop Africa's largest proven reserves of conventional crude, and had produced about 1.6 million barrels per day. Most of its exports went to Europe.
At least three of the major ports in the east are no longer exporting, and an official of the Arabian Gulf Oil Co in the east said on Monday that they were not expecting another tanker until mid-April from the terminal in Tobruk, near the Egyptian border.
The Paris-based group, whose members are mainly oil-consuming industrial nations such as the United States, also said that production from the north African nation appeared to have "slowed to a trickle" as the fighting and mounting unrest prompted an exodus of foreign oil workers and led international companies to halt their operations in the country.
The IEA said: "What is becoming clearer is the country's oil production and exports could be off the market for many months due to both war-inflicted damage on oil infrastructure and international sanctions."
The fighting in Libya drove oil prices as high as almost US$107 per barrel last week on the New York Mercantile Exchange before they quickly cooled after the massive earthquake that ravaged Japan.
Energy prices yesterday tumbled to the lowest levels this month as world markets react to a growing crisis in Japan. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude dropped US$3.77, almost 4 percent, to US$97.42 per barrel. Brent crude, heating oil, natural gas and gasoline futures also dropped between 2 and 6 percent.
The assessment, presented in the IEA's latest month oil market report, reaffirmed the belief of many in the market that Libya's vital oil industry was all-but-shuttered amid the fighting. The country sits atop Africa's largest proven reserves of conventional crude, and had produced about 1.6 million barrels per day. Most of its exports went to Europe.
At least three of the major ports in the east are no longer exporting, and an official of the Arabian Gulf Oil Co in the east said on Monday that they were not expecting another tanker until mid-April from the terminal in Tobruk, near the Egyptian border.
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