Tuesday, May 17, 2011
By Alex Delmar-Morgan
Of ZAWYA DOW JONES
DOHA (Zawya Dow Jones)--The head of Libyan National Oil Co., Shokri Ghanem, has "defected" from the regime of Col. Muammar Gadhafi, Libyan rebel oil and finance minister Ali Tarhouni said Tuesday.
"As far as I know he has defected," Tarhouni said in an interview with Zawya Dow Jones in Doha Tuesday, adding that he had heard Libya's top oil official had fled to neighboring Tunisia.
Tarhouni said it wasn't clear if Ghanem would play a role in helping the Libyan rebels with oil production.
"They [who] defect from the regime--it doesn't necessarily mean they will be part of the TNC [Transitional National Council]. Shokri Ghanem is not going to be a member of the TNC," he added.
-By Alex Delmar-Morgan, Dow Jones Newswires; +974 6659 9818; alex.delmar-morgan@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
17-05-11 1057GMT
