Hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, once the backbone of the economy, have fled. International sanctions have dried up oil export revenues, and gas stations have become battle grounds, with soldiers guarding the pumps and motorists waiting for days for their turn to fill up.  More »

Indonesian state energy firm Pertamina is in talks with Exxon Mobil to buy its 25 percent stake in an oil-exploration project in Angola after bidding around $3.5 billion. (Via WSJ)  More »

The investment-banking arm of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries said recent unrest in the Middle East and the North Africa won’t affect its plans to double outlays to about $700 million by 2014.  More »

Egypt suspended natural-gas exports to Israel and Jordan for the second time this year after unidentified saboteurs blew up a monitoring room in a gas-distribution facility, the Oil Ministry said.  More »

The rebels need to repair equipment to pump oil from two key fields in the rebel-controlled east that were damaged in fighting. Libyan exports have largely disappeared from the international market since the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi began, helping drive oil prices to their highest levels in more than two years.  More »

A broad commodity selloff was partly attributed to Goldman’s rare and surprise crude oil bear call, but BofA Merrill Lynch says not so fast, while gloves are off at BarCap…  More »

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday the NATO alliance is looking into ways to help Libyan rebels sell oil and will explore using a “clearing-house” to better share information.  More »

Amid skyrocketing oil prices since the civil war erupted in Libya, and the gasoline prices moving closer to $4 a gallon at the pump, Democrats want President Obama to tap the SPR. So that begs the questions–Should the QE2-fueled speculation-driven price spikes in oil and gasoline be considered as a national energy emergency? Should the SPR be used to as a market price intervention tool?  More »

A U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks blames no more than 15 percent of oil thefts on militants operating in the Niger Delta. Large-scale thefts fuel arms sales to the region while causing environmental damage and cutting production in a nation crucial to U.S. oil supplies, the cable suggests.  More »

The Tokyo-based construction company’s agreement to pay the fine brings to $1.5 billion the total penalties in a Justice Department case against a joint venture that included Houston-based Kellogg Brown & Root, Paris-based Technip and Dutch engineering firm Snamprogetti Netherlands BV.  More »

The shipment of oil for export, the first in almost three weeks amid escalating violence, would be a tiny fraction of Libya’s pre-crisis exports of around 1.6 million barrels a day, but is viewed by analysts as a symbolic step forward.  More »

Opposition forces on Monday took back much of Brega, a strategic oil hub that has repeatedly changed hands in weeks of battles with Moammar Gadhafi’s forces along the nation’s northern coast.  More »