Sanctions for Libya's ex oil chief lifted

WASHINGTON, June 22 (UPI) -- Washington announced it was lifting sanctions against the former Libyan oil minister, who defected from the country last month.

Libyan Oil Minister Shokri Ghanem surfaced June 1 in Rome and announced that he had quit the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Ghanem had fled to Tunisia May 16. He condemned Gadhafi's assault on his countrymen and endorsed the national rebellion.

U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that it had removed sanctions against the former oil minister.

"Our sanctions are intended to prevent harm and change behavior," said OFAC Director Adam Szubin in a statement. "To the extent that sanctioned individuals distance themselves from the Gadhafi regime, these measures can be lifted."

Ghanem in March, before his defection, said non-Western countries could be favored in his country unless companies like French energy giant Total and Germany's Wintershall return to work in Libya.

Libya before conflict erupted there early this year was producing about 1.6 million barrels of oil per day with most of that designated for European markets.

The State Department in a statement this week said Washington "strongly encouraged" sales of oil by the Transitional National Council, the rebel-backed leadership in Libya.