Gaddafi attacks oil fields to block rebel war finances

Attacks by government troops this week have also halted production in rebel-held oil fields, just as a tanker with the first shipment of crude left Tobruk yesterday.

The rebels have a deal to export oil via the Gulf state of Qatar and use the profits to pay salaries and buy food, medicine and arms to fight Gaddafi.

Ghoga, the rebel official, said groups of armoured vehicles attacked the oil field of Messla and of Sarir earlier this week, the al-Jazeera reported.

"I think we will not depend on oil revenues in the coming stage because our production has been affected in this crisis."

He said that while the extent of damage remains unclear, the rebels can no longer sustain the 100,000 barrels a day they had been producing. By contrast, in 2009, Libya produced 1.65 million barrels of oil per day.

The rebels still have about one million barrels in storage in Tobruk, which is being exported through the Qatari deal.

"Colonel Gaddafi seeks to deprive us of even this by hitting the oil fields that feed this port. This is our wealth and we have to protect it," Ghoga said.

The two fields are part of the massive Sirte Basin region, which is one of the world''s largest oil fields and holds 80 per cent of Libya''s oil reserves.

Sarir field was discovered in 1961 and is the largest oil field in the country, with estimated reserves of 12 billion barrels. A pipeline carries its oil north to Tobruk.

Messla, discovered in 1971 and just 40km north of Sarir, is estimated to hold three billion barrels of oil.

Libya has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa, even more than Nigeria, at an estimated 46.4 billion barrels as of January 2011, according to Oil and Gas Journal. PTI