Libya’s deputy foreign minister says the country’s oil chief will attend the upcoming OPEC meeting, appearing to debunk reports that National Oil Corp. head Shukri Ghanem had defected.
Khaled Kaim told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Ghanem, who in his capacity as the NOC’s head serves as the country’s oil minister, would attend the scheduled June 8 meeting of the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Ghanem left for Tunisia on May 16 in a move that several of his close Libyan colleagues called a defection. The news was seen as a blow to Muammar Gadhafi, whose forces are locked in a bloody battle with rebels in the east.
While saying Ghanem would represent the government at OPEC, Kaim also stressed that he was free to resign.
