Rebels in east Libya , who last year declared the region semi autonomous, said oil companies are eager to buy their crude and offered to protect tankers after the government’s navy blocked one such vessel from loading. “Companies are fighting to make contracts,” Salem Al Jedran, whose brother Ibrahim is the self-appointed leader of Cyrenaica, Libya’s eastern coastal region, said by phone today. “We will use Es Sider, Hariga and Ras Lanuf,” he said, referring to three of the country’s largest export facilities that have been disrupted since the middle of last year. The region’s Libyan Oil and Gas Corp. sent a letter to international oil companies yesterday offering to ensure the safety of tankers loading at Es Sider, the biggest port. The notice was distributed days after a vessel was stopped from going to the facility by the central govermnent’s navy. Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zaidan said today […]