Oxy evacuates foreign workers and their families from Libya

Occidental Petroleum's oil production will continue to be operated by Libyan employees and contractors, according to spokesman Richard Kline. No specifics on the number of folks evacuated, but Libya provides less than 2 percent of the L.A.-based company's total worldwide production (last year, it was 13,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which is very little and does not impact earnings or cash flow). Oxy is hardly alone in getting folks out of the country. Thousands of expats were trying to hightail it out of there on Wednesday, though it's not been easy. From the WSJ:

With most commercial flights canceled, countries were organizing planes, ships and even buses and fishing boats to get their citizens out of the country by any means possible. However, as Col. Gadhafi continued to lose control of vast swathes of the country to the opposition movement, some flights were unable to land at Tripoli airport and were instead queuing in southern Europe awaiting clearance. Libya's ports were also closed, although some evacuation ships were getting through.

Well over 100,000 foreign nationals live and work in Libya, mainly in the country's oil industry but also in industries such as transport and telecommunications. The need to evacuate foreign nationals increased amid signs that central control over the nation was weakening and as reports emerged of soldiers looting and plundering.

The U.S. has chartered a ferry to pick up travelers after Libyan authorities refused permission for its planes to land. The State Department advised its citizens to head to the As-Shahab port in central Tripoli as soon as possible.