"Oil prices are pulling back this morning primarily due to profit taking," said Victor Shum, senior principal for Purvin and Gertz international energy consultants in Singapore. He added that the disruption in Libya's oil shipments appeared to be easing after rebels fighting veteran leader Moamer Qadhafi started exporting crude from an area that they control. A tanker left the port of Tobruk in Libya's rebel-held east on Wednesday carrying the first consignment of oil since the rebel government won recognition from some countries, an AFP journalist reported. The Greek-owned, Liberian-registered tanker left a terminal near Tobruk, 130 kilometres (80 miles) from the Egyptian border. It had docked there on Tuesday to load Libyan crude worth up to $100 million. It was the first shipment for which the rebels had taken full responsibility and the first such exports since international coalition air strikes began on March 19 to support the uprising against Qadhafi. Shum said however that the market was continuing to monitor the volatile situation in the oil-rich Middle East and North Africa region where popular uprisings have already toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.