PetroChina Parent Joins Total to Move Libya Workers

China National Petroleum Corp., the country’s biggest oil producer, joined Total SA to move staff out of Libya as a revolt resulted in the loss of as much as two- thirds of the North African nation’s crude production.
China National Petroleum, which explores for oil off Libya’s northwestern coast, has relocated 47 of its staff and is prepared to evacuate all of its 391 employees if necessary, the parent of PetroChina Co. said in its on-line newsletter today. Total yesterday started to cut output and repatriate staff.
Barclays Capital said about 1 million barrels of daily oil production in Libya is likely to have been shut in, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. put the lost output at 500,000. Libya, holder of Africa’s biggest reserves, produced 1.6 million barrels a day last month, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“The country is in a chaotic state, a lot of technical staff in international oil companies have left the country and more may leave, so further disruption is certainly possible,” said Victor Shum, Singapore-based senior principal at Purvin & Gertz Inc., a consultant.
Oil traded in London surged to the highest in almost two and half years as supplies from Africa’s third-biggest producer fell. BP Plc and Royal Shell Dutch Plc have suspended exploration, while Statoil ASA closed its office in Tripoli.
Governments evacuated thousands of expatriates from Libya as army units defected and a former aide to leader Muammar Qaddafi said the spreading rebellion may topple the regime within days. The second chartered plane sent by China left Beijing for Tripoli today, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, was little changed at 43 euros in Paris trading yesterday. PetroChina, the Hong Kong-listed unit of China National Petroleum, gained 0.2 percent to HK$10.40 at 11:52 a.m. local time.
Staff Evacuations
Repatriating staff remains Total’s priority in Libya, said Phenelope Semavoine, a spokeswoman for the Paris-based company. Total’s Libyan operations last year accounted for 55,000 barrels a day, or about 2.6 percent of the company’s global production.
OMV AG, central Europe’s biggest energy producer, earlier this week evacuated all non-essential staff from Libya. OMV’s output in Libya last year was about 33,000 barrels a day, or 10 percent of its total, and the company said it wouldn’t be able to make up the shortfall elsewhere. The stock fell 5.8 percent to 30.075 euros in Vienna yesterday.
“We rather expect that production will come to a standstill for a certain period of time for safety reasons,” OMV Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Production can be restored “relatively quickly,” said Jaap Huijskes, who heads exploration and production.
Eni Suspension
Italy’s Eni SpA, the largest foreign oil producer in Libya, said on Feb. 22 that some oil and gas operations in the country have been suspended, while Spain’s Repsol YPF SA said it was also halting exploration and production.
Eni, which drilled in Libya during the whole of Qaddafi’s 41 years of rule, pumps 244,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the North African country, or 14 percent of the company’s total production.
The Italian producer said it has pulled out most of its staff, leaving only 34 workers in Libya.
“A peaceful solution in Libya looks unlikely for now as Qaddafi indicates that he won’t go quietly,” Richard Griffith, a London-based analyst at Evolution Securities Ltd., wrote in an e-mailed report. “The more significant impact is probably on Eni.”
Cargo Ports
Libya is Africa’s largest oil producer after Nigeria and Angola. In terms of proven reserves, Libya’s 44.3 billion barrels is the biggest in the continent and 3.3 percent of the world’s total, according to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy.
Three Libyan cargo ports are reported to have closed and shipping lines will divert containers of goods to Italy, according to Tuscor Lloyds, which sends about 50 shipments a month to the country.
Tripoli, Benghazi and Misurata have halted operations, Neel Ratti, shipping manager at Tuscor Lloyds in Manchester, England, said by phone yesterday.
Eni said on Feb. 22 that gas supplies from the North African country to Italy through its Greenstream pipeline were halted. Italy gets about 10 percent of its gas from Libya through the pipeline to Gela in Sicily.
Italy can replace missing gas with supplies from Algeria, Azerbaijan, Russia and the Gulf countries, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told Parliament yesterday. There’s “no risk of a lack of supply” of gas to Italy, according to Marlene Holzner, the European Union’s energy spokeswoman.