Libya still without oil chief
The Libyan government said yesterday it has not yet named a new oil chief to replace the top energy official who defected this week.
Following the defection of Libya’s top energy official Shokri Ghanem earlier this week, Muammar Gaddafi’s government is now headhunting for a replacement. But his government assured that it would name a candidate in time to lead its delegation at a summit of the OPEC oil producing countries in Vienna next week.
Pressed by journalists to give the name of the new oil chief, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said: “Not yet. When we have a name we will announce it.”
Libya's peacetime economy was almost entirely dependent on its exports of about 1.8 million barrels of oil per day, which have ceased as a result of sanctions imposed since a revolt and civil war began in February.
Ghanem, who ran the Libyan oil industry since 2006 and has also served as a prime minister, became one of the most senior Gaddafi officials to defect, announcing this week in Rome he was resigning because of "unbearable" violence in Libya.
