FRAM MED SANNINGEN OM ESTONIA!

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Rebels in eastern Libya said on Friday they now controlled most of the oil fields east of the town of Ras Lanuf, and said they would honour oil deals as long as they were in the interest of the people.
The eastern Libyan town of Brega and its oil terminal are under rebel control, and soldiers who have defected are helping the rebels to secure the port, Reuters witnesses said on Friday.
"This area is controlled by the people," said Mabrook Maghraby, a lawyer from Benghazi who is now involved with the local committees defending Brega.
If oil contracts were unfair or based on corruption, however, the interim leadership of Libya's second city Benghazi said they reserved the right to renegotiate them.

Benghazi, Libya (CNN) -- Libya's bloody crackdown on protesters is "escalating alarmingly" and "thousands may have been killed or injured," the world's top human rights official said Friday, as strongman Moammar Gadhafi vied to retain power from his stronghold in the capital of Tripoli.


MADRID — Spain says it will lower highway speed limits and cut train ticket prices in an emergency energy-saving initiative because of higher oil prices brought on by unrest in Libya.


PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A company trying to move huge pieces of oil refining equipment to Canada says it will downsize the "megaloads" so they can be trucked on interstate highways.

WASHINGTON—A leading energy expert is warning against calls by U.S. lawmakers to open emergency fuel supplies to reduce the pressure on fast-rising oil and gas prices.


Daniel Yergin, chair of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, said the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves should be used solely to combat supply shortages, and not to lower fuel prices.

Oil prices on world markets continue to rise amid fears that the hydrocarbon flow will be halted from Libya as a result of the political unrest in the country.


For Cambridge Energy Research Chairman Daniel Yergin, the panic point will hit when oil routinely costs more than $100 a barrel. That benchmark, Yergin tells CNBC, "starts being a worrying setback for the economy. It hits consumer confidence and spending — and a lot of businesses, beginning with airlines."

For Jack Ablin, CIO of Harris Private Bank, the trigger point may be closer to $140 a barrel. He sent a message to CNBC Tuesday saying that when a gallon of gas hits $4, that "will begin to weigh on the consumer and our incipient recovery."

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- For consumers, the return of $100-a-barrel oil is nothing but bad news. But investors see an opportunity: They're piling into unconventional energy stocks, betting that high oil prices could translate into big profits for some smaller U.S.-based oil companies.


In fact, companies that specialize in extracting crude from oil shale and oil sands are posting the biggest gains among energy companies this year.


We need some balance in the Libyan oil story. Is this north African nation an unmitigated disaster for those elsewhere in the world running an economy or driving a gas-guzzling vehicle? Notwithstanding the turmoil, the answer so far is no.


Libya produces less than 2 percent of the world’s oil, and exports little to the United States. But the high quality of its reserves magnifies its importance in world markets.

-----------------------------http://www.theoildrum.com/