Tuesday, May 17, 2011
(Adds Tunisian official comment in paragraph 5; details in paragraphs 6-8.)
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.
A Tunisian security official confirmed Ghanem was in Tunisia and said "he is in Djerba [Tunisia] since May 14." The official said it was not clear if Ghanem had defected or not.
Ghanem couldn't be reached on either a land line or his mobile phone for comment.
Libya's oil head was expected to travel to Vienna for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' next output policy meeting on June 8.
Libya, currently pumping no crude, was producing 1.6 million barrels a day of oil before fighting broke out in early February.
-By Alex Delmar-Morgan, Dow Jones Newswires; +974 6659 9818; alex.delmar-morgan@dowjones.com
(Benoit Faucon in London contributed to this report.)
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
17-05-11 1232GMT
