The international military intervention in Libya risks prolonging the shutdown of North Africa’s most productive oil fields as well as reprisals by Muammar Qaddafi’s regime against foreign energy assets.
Oil rose to a two-year high during the month-long conflict between government forces and rebels. Brent crude in London gained as much as 2 percent today after the U.S., U.K. and France launched missiles and airstrikes at targets in Libya.
Libyan oil output has fallen to less than 400,000 barrels a day, about a quarter of the production before the crisis, and may stop, Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Co., said on March 19. Italy’s Eni SpA (ENI), the biggest foreign oil company in Libya, evacuated the last of its expatriate staff after the United Nations authorized military action against Qaddafi.
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