Libya rebels say seeking to lift oil sanctions - 28th Mar 2011

BENGHAZI, Libya, March 28 (Reuters) - A senior Libyan rebel official said on Monday rebels were in "active discussions" to have sanctions lifted on purchases of crude produced from east Libyan fields that are no longer in Muammar Gaddafi's control.

"We hope they will be lifted for the liberated areas as quickly as possible," Ali Tarhouni, a rebel official in charge of economic, financial and oil matters, in rebel-held Benghazi told Reuters. "Not with everybody, but with some countries."

A U.S. Treasury Department official said rebels could sell Libyan crude without being subject to U.S. sanctions if they conducted the transactions outside the National Oil Corporation and other sanctioned entities in Gaddafi's administration. (Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia in Cairo and David Gregorio in New York) Source