Gaddafi blasts Western oil players

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi slammed Western powers in a German television interview, saying Germany was the only country with a chance of doing business with Libyan oil in the future.

“We do not trust their firms, they have conspired against us,” he said in excerpts of a tape to be broadcast on RTL later in the day. “Our oil contracts are going to Russian, Chinese and Indian firms. The West is to be forgotten.”

Among the international oil companies active in Libya before the current fighting forced them to halt operations were UK supermajor BP, Anglo-Dutch Shell, Total of France, Germany’s Wintershall, Eni of Italy, Austria’s OMV, Marathon Oil of the US and Canadian player Suncor Energy.

Of Western nations, only Germany, which has been hesitant to call for a no-fly zone over the country to protect embattled rebels fighting against the leader, stood out as “responsible”, Gaddafi said.

“The Germans have taken a very good position towards us, very different from many other important countries in the West,” he said, adding that he imagined Libya could work with German companies in the future, according to a Reuters report.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the UK have led calls for a no-fly zone, which Germany and Russia argue could be counterproductive.

(Source: upstreamonline)

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