Libyan change could isolate Russia and China
The change in regime in Libya has left a race to restore oil production and grab market share.
After the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, oil producers are scrambling to restart oil production, mainly in the east of Libya. European producers in particular, such as Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol are amongst the early returnees to the oil fields.
While the new administration, based in Libya's second city Benghazi, takes stock of the damage wrought to Libya's oil infrastructure, the oil producers with operations in the country are keen to restart production. Before the uprising, Libya was responsible for two percent of the world's oil production.
Libya's new Oil and Finance Minister, Ali Tarhouni, has stated that production is set to restart within weeks. However analysts remain sceptical about the length of time it will take to bring production back to previous levels - some quoting years before this is achieved.
Meanwhile, as companies such as Austria's OMV, Qatar's Vitol, Shell and Total also look to capitalise on the new administration's desire to bring oil revenue to the country as quickly as possible, Russia and China may lose heavily after backing Gaddafi in the conflict.
Gazprom Neft and Tatneft are amongst those that could lose billions of dollars worth of investment in the country, alledging that NATO and the new Libyan regime will not allow them to operate in the foreseable future. China's oil giants could also suffer the same fate, with some 75 Chinese companies said to be operating in the country before the uprising.
