State-run Russian energy monopoly Gazprom has offered to buy all of Libya's currently available and future oil and gas exports in perpetuity. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, who recently predicted $250 oil, made the offer to Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi during a visit to the capital Tripoli. Gazprom:
The Libyan side positively evaluated Gazprom's proposal to buy all future volumes of gas, oil and liquefied natural gas assigned for export at competitive prices
The move will not endanger current contracts Libya has with other producers, such as Italian oil company Eni SpA, which currently produces 550,000 barrels a day in the country. The Chairman of Libya's National Oil Company said:
Libya's traditional customers shouldn't worry, Gazprom offered to buy whatever gas or oil that Libya has available for selling, or that has no buyer. It is not offering to take all of Libya's production.
Despite this, the move will likely be viewed by most Europeans as yet another step in a series of troubling moves by Russia to monopolize control of European energy supplies and thereby increase its geopolitical and economic leverage.
See Also: Gazprom: You Can't Stop Us
