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Question marks still remain over the status of Libyan oil minister Shokri Ghanem after it was reported that he would not be attending today’s meeting of OPEC member states in Vienna.
News reports emanating from Tripoli earlier this week said that Ghanem has tendered his resignation as both oil minister and as the chairman of state-owned National Oil Company.
“Nothing has been officially announced about his resignation, whether he wants to stay or go it’s a personal decision,” Libya’s OPEC Governor, Ahmed Elghaber told Zawya Dow Jones in a telephone interview.
“He is still the top oil official and there is no replacement as of yet,” he added.
Sources have indicated to The Financial Times that Ghanem has grown wary of Libya’s growing oil nationalist policies and his relationship with the country’s power elite, including Colonel Gaddafi, has become strained in recent months.
Libya’s increasingly nationalist rhetoric has left foreign oil companies wondering whether making significant investments in the North African state’s oil and gas infrastructure is worth the risk.
Industry analysts have also said that they believe Libya will miss Ghanem’s shrewd negotiation skills and his elevated status within OPEC if his resignation is accepted by Gaddafi.
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