Oil from Libyan rebels delayed

BENGHAZI, Libya, April 25 (UPI) -- Rebel leaders in Libya said it would take about a month for the opposition to ship oil out of their territory after weekend strikes on two oil fields.

Wahid Bougaighis, the director of rebel-controlled National Oil Co., said his company needs about a month to survey damage caused when forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi attacked two oil fields during the weekend, the Platts news service reports.

"We're in the process of mobilizing the repairs," he was quoted as saying. "We need four weeks to see our plans for reconstruction to give a process of a start date."

No shipments have left Libya since 1 million barrels were sold to international trader Vitol in early April. Leaders from Libya's transitional council have agreements with Qatar to market oil produced in rebel-held territory and Italian energy company Eni has similar arrangements.

The onset of the crisis in Libya in February helped push oil prices to two-year highs. Libya before the conflict was producing about 1.6 million barrels of oil per day with most of that designated for European markets.