UPDATE 1-Private equity undeterred by Mid-East unrest

* Carlyle says portfolio companies not yet impacted

* Still looking at deals in Middle East region

* Muammar Gaddafi not investor in Carlyle- Rubenstein

* Abraaj says growth prospects for region still good

* Rising oil prices a concern for private equity

(Recasts, adds quotes from Abraaj Capital, Apollo, FTI Consulting)

By Megan Davies and Simon Meads

BERLIN, March 1 (Reuters) - Private equity firms are still seeking deals in the Middle East although recent turmoil in the region could halt investment and trigger a re-negotiation of deal terms in the short term, executives said on Tuesday.

The Middle East and North Africa regions are important investment areas for private equity firms, which have raised $22.7 billion to sink into the area in the past five years according to figures from London-based research firm Preqin.

"We are still looking at deals, there are a lot of countries that haven't been affected yet, I think Turkey is in pretty good shape," said Carlyle Group [CYL.UL] co-founder David Rubenstein at SuperReturn, the private equity industry's major annual conference in Berlin. "I wouldn't say we have suspended (deals); we are still working on deals."

Rubenstein said that the uncertainty in the Middle East region "clearly isn't a plus but it isn't necessarily an overall long term negative; it may make things easier to do in the future."

Carlyle has a fund dedicated to investing in the Middle East and North Africa.

The region is going through "a period of flux" but the growth prospects for the region are still good, said Mustafa Adbel-Wadood, managing director of Abraaj Capital, as many countries, such as Egypt, have large, growing populations of young people.

Abraaj, based in Dubai, is one of the biggest private equity firms in the region.

However Abdel-Wadood forecast that the turmoil will have a short-term impact, both through prospective buyers renegotiating terms of deals on the table and in growth prospects for the countries across the region.

Growth in Egypt is likely to be about 3 percent this year, opposed to the 6 percent projected growth, Abdel-Wadood said.

The SuperReturn conference where the private equity executives were speaking had 1,400 people registered to attend according to an organiser, a ten percent increase from the previous year.

PORTFOLIO CONCERN

Rubenstein said the Middle East unrest has not yet impacted Carlyle's portfolio companies.

"Right now the companies we have are in reasonable shape; we don't have any portfolio companies in Egypt; so I think we're OK; our companies in Turkey are OK and our companies in Saudi Arabia are OK," Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein said Carlyle has a team in Egypt and is waiting to see what happens in the economy.

"We're not rushing out of Egypt, but today is probably not the day to make an investment in Egypt -- maybe in a couple of months," Rubenstein. Across the region, Rubenstein said Carlyle remains active.

Protests against authoritarian leaders have deposed the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt and shaken the Arab world, while Libya has tipped into a political vacuum since the uprising against longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi erupted on Feb. 17. [ID:nLDE71O2CH]

The United States imposed sanctions on the Libyan government on Friday and said the legitimacy of Gaddafi had been "reduced to zero." The U.S. Treasury said the action would block substantial sums of Libyan money and prevent it being looted by the Gaddafi government.

"In a globalised world, risk is not geographically contained," said Mark Malloch-Brown, chairman of global affairs at business advisory firm FTI Consulting. "Today with what's happening in Libya and earlier in Egypt, it is not a problem just there, it is a bigger problem in coming through on the prices we're paying (due to higher oil prices)".

The risk of crude oil prices remaining high for a long period -- which could lead to slower economic growth -- does concern private equity executives.

Apollo Global Management's [APOLO.UL] Chief Executive Officer and founder Leon Black said the Middle East tension has raised "very real questions for what that means for oil prices and the momentum of an economic recovery".

Asked if Carlyle has any Libyan investors who might be impacted by the U.S. freeze of assets, Rubenstein said: "I don't have a view on that yet. I don't know enough to know."

Gaddafi himself was not an investor in Carlyle, Rubenstein said. Asked on the sidelines of the conference if Libyan investors or Gaddafi had invested in Carlyle funds, Rubenstein said: "Mr Gaddafi did not." (Editing by Louise Heavens)