...do we really need to rush in and insist upon picking up the tab yet again? I for one would rather have our democratic partners pick up the check for once; or at least split the cost.

Eni's 41-Year Qaddafi Link Means Lowest Oil Industry Valuation as CDS Jump
By Alessandra Migliaccio and Brian Swint - Mar 9, 2011 5:43 AM MT at Bloomberg

Eni, whose success negotiating oil deals in Africa helped make it Libya’s largest producer, has shut about 9 percent of its total global output because of the conflict. As the biggest foreign investor in Libya, Eni is at the center of Italy’s relationship with its former colony. In turn, Libya owns stakes in Italian companies, ranging from Milan-based bank Unicredit SpA (UCG) to defense contractor Finmeccanica SpA (FNC) in Rome.
Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni, 64, will make his annual strategy presentation to investors in London tomorrow. He will need to draw on the company’s diplomatic heritage to navigate Libya’s slide into civil war and protect its investments, said Ettore Greco, head of the IAI Institute for International Affairs in Rome.
Eni’s Greenstream natural gas pipeline linking Libya and Sicily is shut and production in the North African country is reduced about two-thirds, Scaroni said in an interview with the Financial Times published today. The company is now producing about 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, compared with 270,000 barrels before the uprising, the newspaper said.
An Eni spokesman declined to comment on current production in Libya and whether contact had been made with rebel groups.

“The risk is they have to renegotiate with a new regime and may lose their contracts and the acreage,” said Andrea Williams, a fund manager at Royal London Asset Management in London, who hasn’t sold her Eni shares because she expects the company to weather the conflict.

The cost of insuring Eni’s debt is the highest among the 10 largest oil companies in Europe and the U.S. The price of a five-year credit default swap for Eni exceeded 100 basis points this week, compared with 58 for Shell, Europe’s largest oil company. A basis point on a credit-default swap protecting 10 million euros ($14 million) of debt from default for five years is equivalent to 1,000 euros a year.
Libyan central bank chief surfaces, by Roula Khalaf in London, Published: March 8 2011 19:15 | Last updated: March 8 2011 23:00, Financial Times

Late on Tuesday night the governor finally surfaced: in an e-mail sent to the Financial Times, he said he had been informed that the secretary of planning and finance had been appointed as acting governor and confirmed that he had been in Istanbul. But he insisted that he was doing his job, and that it was easier to conduct business abroad than in Tripoli.

The statement, however, did not shed much light on the governor’s loyalties. He said he would resign after the crisis but also that he had been working hard over the past two weeks to explain the central bank’s position and clarify the effect of the international effort to freeze Libyan assets. Blocking central bank funds could lead to a humanitarian disaster, he said, including a reminder that he had always operated in line with regulations and had modernised the Libyan banking system.
The fate of Mr Bengdara has attracted much attention but bankers say he was already on his way out before the crisis. Since taking over at the central bank in 2006 (he was deputy governor before that), he was considered something of a reformer, opening up the banking sector to foreign capital, tightening supervision and setting up a clearing system. But he was seen to have won his job thanks to Seif-al-Islam, the Gaddafi son and apparent heir who had championed a more liberal economic system.
EU will Milliarden für die Entwicklung Nordafrikas sprechen, 8. März 2011, 18:45, NZZ Online

EU-Kommissionspräsident José Manuel Barroso will Milliarden für die Demokratisierung Nordafrikas zur Verfügung stellen. Er stellte eine «Partnerschaft für Demokratie und gemeinsamen Wohlstand» mit den südlichen Mittelmeerländern vor. Sie wird am Freitag von den Staats- und Regierungschefs der EU offiziell beschlossen.
Der frühere deutsche Aussenminister Joschka Fischer (Grüne) warf der EU unterdessen schwere Versäumnisse vor. «In der Stunde grösster Herausforderung versagt dieses Europa», sagte er der «Stuttgarter Zeitung». «Es ist trostlos: keine Idee, kein Plan, keine Initiative.»

Insbesondere verlangte Fischer ein umfassendes Hilfs- und Aufbauprogramm. Er forderte auch konkrete Massnahmen zum Sturz des libyschen Machthabers Muammar al-Ghadhafi. Auf ein militärisches Eingreifen legte er sich jedoch nicht fest. Daneben gebe es «noch andere Möglichkeiten - auch der diskreten Hilfe und Unterstützung» für die libysche Opposition.