Azernews.Az

(Dow Jones, September 3) – Italy must remain Libya's first partner in the oil industry, Foreign Affairs Minister Franco Frattini said Saturday, hinting that the allies in the coalition that helped topple Col. Moammar Gadhafi are now competing to reap the fruits of the military action.

"It is necessary that Italy remains, as it's always been, the first partner of Libya," Frattini told reporters on the sidelines of a panel of business and political leaders in the lakeside town of Cernobbio, near Como. "We have confirmed our commitments. We'll be able to restart production," the share that was under the control of Eni SpA (E, ENI.MI), he said, "by October."

World leaders gathered in Paris this week to show united support for the Libyan rebels and to discuss how best they can help rebuild the North African country, but a rift emerged over who should get first access to Libya's oil and natural gas riches, as divisions emerged between countries which took part in the foreign military intervention supporting the Libyan rebellion against loyalist forces and those, such as Russia and China, that didn't.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he thought it would only be reasonable if French companies benefited from preferential access to Libyan contracts given that Paris, together with the U.K., led the foreign military offensive in Libya.

Russia, which abstained when the United Nations Security Council passed its March resolution authorizing the use of force in Libya, has said the U.N., not a small group of countries, should take the lead in supporting Libya's reconstruction.

"Other countries, like Russia, are confirming their oil contracts ... I don't think there's anything strange with that," Frattini said.

Libya is home to Africa's largest known oil reserves and, until the war, ranked as one of continent's biggest producers, with daily output of 1.6 million barrels.