RWE's DEA mulls Libya re-entry

FRANKFURT: DEA, the oil and gas exploration arm of Germany's RWE, said on Monday it was looking into returning staff to Libya who were flown out amid emerging unrest in February.

A spokeswoman in Hamburg said it was too early to say when the company may return all staff, adding DEA hoped that it could re-establish exploration in two fields and those previous contracts would be upheld.

"We are looking into the situation," she said.

DEA, which does not yet produce gas or oil in Libya, employs 100 people in the country but trimmed down to a core team of workers from the region in February.

The spokeswoman said DEA was not in contact with any interim government in Libya.

Rebels on Monday swept into the heart of Tripoli and crowds took to the streets to celebrate what they saw as the end of Muammar Gaddafi's four decades in power, with government tanks and snipers putting up only scattered resistance.

Wintershall, BASF's oil and gas unit, said it would communicate on Libyan plans later on Monday.

It stopped oil production amounting to 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) there in February.

Copyright Reuters, 2011