Libya'S Eastern Port Tobruk Opens For Oil Exports

AP via WSLS 10 TV ^ | Monday, Feb 28th, 2011 | TAREK EL-TABLAWY

[DGHoodini]

CAIRO --

CAIRO (AP) Libya's eastern port of Tobruk reopened Monday and one tanker bound for China was being loaded, officials said, as the chief executive of Saudi Arabia's state-run oil giant announced his company had stepped in to compensate for an export shortfall stemming from the unrest in the North African nations.

The news offered a glimmer of hope that the disruption to exports from Libya may ease, at least slightly. The country, where Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is embroiled in a violent struggle to stay in power, is the only member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries so far seriously affected by the protests roiling the Arab world.

The unrest in the North African nation has sent shudders through global oil markets, with concern centering on the possibility that the unrest could spread to other OPEC members.

"The terminal (at Tobruk) is working at 100 percent," said, Rajab Sahnoun, an official with the Arabian Gulf Oil Co., which is based in the eastern city of Benghazi, told The Associated Press. He said that one tanker bound for China was being loaded, with a capacity of 1 million barrels of crude, while another Italy-bound tanker was waiting and expected to load in the coming days.

[ZULU]

Irrelevant. The commodity dealers and speculators will continue to drive prices up until we start drilling here and expolit coal and nuclear power.

[PGR88]

Oil will pay for a lot of weapons and patronage for whomever is in charge in that area.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I for one am prepared to put up with 2 yrs. of energy pain, if as it appears this is going to be the final nail in Obama’s Jimmy Carter Coffin...

[Tailgunner Joe]

Khadaffi promised to burn his oil, but the rebels are opening the flow of oil. We should support the rebels.