Reports emerged Feb. 23 that two oil companies operating in Libya's strategic Gulf of Sidra have renounced their support of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and pledged to support "the people." Arabian Gulf Oil Company, based in Benghazi, and Sirte Oil Company, based in Marsa el Brega — both subsidiaries of the Libyan state-owned National Oil Corporation — control refineries and oil fields in the strategic Gulf of Sidra region in central LIbya. This region is the hub for 77 percent of Libya's energy export revenue and is currently stuck in a tug-of-war between anti-Gadhafi protesters who have taken control of major cities in eastern Libya and Gadhafi loyalists who are maintaining control in the west of the country. The oil companies' announcements of their breaks with Gadhafi add economic leaders to the list of military and diplomatic leaders who have already defected from Gadhafi's regime.
