DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Western-backed rebels in Libya have used up their stocks of crude oil, and it's unclear when production might resume at the country's southeastern oil fields, which are vulnerable to attack, the Financial Times reported online Monday, citing the main exporting company under opposition control.
The small refinery at Tobruk, a maritime export terminal near Libya's border with Egypt, shut down late last week after using up the last oil in storage, according to Abdel Jalil Mayouf, spokesman for Arabian Gulf Oil Co., or Agoco.
The new authorities in eastern Libya have held major fields about 500 kilometers to the south since the February uprising, including the country's biggest, Sarir, with potential output of more than 200,000 barrels a day under normal circumstances.
But forces loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi, Libya's ruler for nearly 42 years, hold nearby towns to the west, keeping the rebel fields exposed to surprise attacks across the open desert, the FT noted. Lightly armed mercenaries in small four-wheel-drive vehicles have slipped through despite NATO air cover for anti- Gadhafi forces.
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-Dow Jones Newswires;
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