Libya rebels eye OPEC meeting as oil minister 'defects'

TRIPOLI — Libya's regime had its back to the wall on Wednesday as it faced NATO air strikes, the apparent defection of its oil minister and threats of prosecution by the International Criminal Court.Rebels fighting to topple strongman Moamer Kadhafi's regime by contrast were growing in confidence and laid claim on Wednesday to being able to represent Libya at the June 8 meeting of oil cartel OPEC in Vienna."We want to attend, and will study the legal procedure," Mahmud Shammam, media spokesman for the rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC), told AFP in Dubai."We still do not know if OPEC will invite us," he said.Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem, a veteran of Kadhafi's regime, at the weekend crossed from Libya into neighbouring Tunisia, a Tunisian official said, although there has been no confirmation he has broken ranks and defected.Ghanem, also chairman of Libya's national oil company, had been due to attend the Vienna meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on behalf of the regime but he has made no comment since he left Libya and his whereabouts are not clear.Shammam said he believed the minister was in fact already in the Austrian capital."We have got confirmation from several sources that Shukri Ghanem is in his house in Vienna," he said."He has not been in touch with the NTC, and the council is not interested, nor in need for Mr. Ghanem, but we welcome defection by any official," he added.If the defection is confirmed, Ghanem would be among the most senior officials to abandon Kadhafi's government since an uprising erupted in mid-February.In April, the US Treasury Department froze the assets of five senior Kadhafi regime figures, including Ghanem, in a bid to fracture the veteran ruler's inner circle.Libya is a key crude-exporting nation but its output has been slashed since the revolt began.According to the International Energy Agency, Libya's exports averaged 1.49 million barrels per day (bpd) before the uprising, with 85 percent of that going to Europe. Output has falle

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