Ghanem back as Libya's state oil firm chief

By Alex Lawler and Lamine Ghanmi

LONDON/RABAT (Reuters) - Shokri Ghanem has been reinstated as chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp., an unexpected return to the top oil post in the OPEC member-nation only weeks after he left the position.

"Reinstated, and no other comment," Ghanem told Reuters on Monday. He left the post in September for reasons that were never made clear and had been replaced provisionally with Ali Seghir Mohamed Saleh.

The reappointment of Ghanem, 67, will be welcomed by investors in the oil industry of Libya, home to Africa's largest reserves, analysts said. Oil firms have viewed Ghanem as a reliable partner in an often unpredictable country.

"My gut feeling is this is a rebalancing over the vital oil sector to make sure there are more positive elements from the companies' and investors' point of view," said Samuel Ciszuk of IHS Global Insight.

"They got a lot of negative feedback from the recent changes."

A statement on the NOC website made it clear that Ghanem is backed by Saif al Islam, the powerful son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"Doctor Engineer Saif al Islam Muammar Gaddafi visited NOC headquarters on Sunday when he held a meeting with (Prime Minister) Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi and Shokri Ghanem, Chairman of NOC, during which they discussed issues related to oil sector," it said.

Ghanem's reappointment was unexpected. Usually the head of Libya's delegation to meetings of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, he had missed the group's last conference in September.

On a visit to London last week to attend an oil conference, he gave no inkling that he would be returning to NOC, saying he intended to carry out some consulting work and read more books.

BACKER OF REFORM

Returning Ghanem as chairman of NOC was Saif's first decision since his father had proposed that his son takes a prominent official role in the government.

Saif has detailed over the past three years an agenda named Libya's Future, pledging to invest $70 billion to upgrade neglected infrastructure and to encourage Libyans to build a freer civic society with an independent judiciary and media.

Ghanem is a staunch backer of Saif's promises.

Mahmoudi, who replaced Ghanem as prime minister in 2006, was widely seen as conservative willing to strengthen the state's hand in the economy, including in the oil and gas sector.

Ghanem's exit had followed an acrimonious dispute between Libya and Canada's Verenex (VNX.TO). Verenex has agreed to be bought by a Libyan sovereign wealth fund, after the collapse of a deal reached with China.