TRIPOLI, Libya, July 15 (UPI) -- Libyan forces loyal to the regime of Moammar Gadhafi will defend the country's oil to the "last drop of blood," a government spokesman said.
The international contact group on Libya met Friday in Istanbul to discuss options for the Libyan war after roughly four months of a NATO-led intervention. The international community intervened in March in a war that shuttered oil production from one of Africa's largest contributors.
Musa Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Gadhafi government, said the regime was ready to kill and die for the nation's oil.
"We will kill everyone who comes near our oil. Rebels, NATO, we don't care," he was quoted by CNN as saying. "We will defend our oil to the last drop of blood that we have."
The International Energy Agency in June called on its members to release oil from strategic reserves to offset market constraints brought on by the Libyan crude shortage.
Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi said after meeting with energy officials in Tripoli that oil might be off the table for good.
"Now is the last chance for any nation contributing to the aggression to review their policy," he was quoted as saying.
