Violent hit Libya's oil production dropped by 50 percent as most of the foreign oil companies closed operations and left the country.
According to country's oil minister, oil production had been cut by around 50 percent but he claimed the situation in Libya is safe for foreign oil workers to return.
Libya, Africa's largest oil reserves holder is the only OPEC member so far seriously affected by the protests roiling the Arab world, and unrest there has sent shudders through global oil markets.
The minister said that tankers were loading at the various Libyan ports. Tobruk port had reopened and one China-bound tanker was being loaded with 1 million barrels of crude and another tanker, destined for Italy, was waiting to pick up its cargo of 600,000 barrels of Libya's light sweet crude.
Libya produces about 1.6 million barrels per day of crude oil, and about 85 percent of its exports are Europe-bound.
Aside from uncertainty about a drop in Libya's exports, oil markets are also panicked that the unrest in the Arab world could spread to other, bigger, OPEC members such as Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, prompting a price rally that could undermine global recovery efforts.
Oil markets have rallied over the past couple of weeks because of the broader unrest in the Arab world, and spiked late last week because of Libya.
The spread between the two contracts reflected the fears about Libya. Crude from that country is of roughly the same quality as Brent, and questions about how much control Gadhafi had over his key export unnerved global markets.
