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Observers are focussing their attention on the emerging division of labour between Dr Ali Tarhouni's ministry of finance and oil, on the one hand, and the National Oil Company (NOC), on the other. Relations between the ministry and the powerful NOC were never smooth under Gheddafi's regime (see, for example, Watching Libya April 8, 2011 ). In a recent press conference in Benghazi, Mahmoud Jibril, who is effectively the TNC's prime minister (see Watching Libya October 1/2, 2011 ), in a recent press conference in Benghazi announced a reshuffle of the NTC's 'executive board'.
He confirmed that Dr Tarhouni (about whom see Watching Libya March 24, 2011 ) will retain the finance and oil portfolios - whilst appointing Abdullah Shammiyah as minister for the economy - but he also made a statement that may be interpreted to mean that the NOC will be ultimately responsible for the implementation of oil policy and the operational side of the Libyan oil and gas industry. It is not clear if earlier plans to set up a separate ministry to be exclusively responsible for oil and gas policy have now been scrapped.
Meanwhile the NOC is chasing oil companies - including ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp, BP, OMV, Vitol, ENI and Saras - for around $US 6 billion worth of unpaid oil bills. These accumulated after UN sanctions prohibited payments to the NOC. Some companies are known to have paid what they owe into special accounts with the intention of transfering them to the new authorities in Libya as soon as these were set up and UN lifted its sanctions. None are expected to seriously resist paying up, as this would jeopardise their position with post-Gheddafi Libya. The TNC will probably accept the equivalent in oil products. Moreover the sums owed by some of these companies will have to be netted of the vaue of recent deliveries to the TNC.
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