Al-Megrahi’s release ‘would free BP’ to join the rush for Libya’s oil

[Dover]

Just the price of doing biz in the global competition for Libya's oil/gas. Oil for arms.

Russia was putting a great deal of pressure on the US/European future oil/gas supply by cozying up to Libya and making deals, thus creating some bargaining leverage for Libya.
It was interesting that shortly after Hillary's fairly recent visit to
Libya that this prisoner release thing came out...just one result.



Al-Megrahi’s release ‘would free BP’ to join the rush for Libya’s oil


....Dr Bassam Fattouh, an expert on the Libyan oil industry at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, added that Libya, which was opened up to foreign companies after sanctions were lifted in 2003, had proved to be a “difficult business environment” for BP and other companies. “BP was having difficulty getting heavy equipment into the country,” he said. However, BP denied that it had faced anything more than routine problems in Libya. A spokesman said that the company was very happy with progress so far.
BP is not the only company that appears to have experienced problems in Libya, which holds 42 billion barrels of oil reserves, the largest in Africa, and is seen as a potential alternative to Russia as a supplier of gas to Western Europe. Tripoli is currently obstructing the sale of a Canadian oil company with Libyan interests, Verenex, to a Chinese company. BG, another British company exploring in Libya that is thought to have experienced similar issues, declined to comment.

The close ties between politics and the oil industry in Libya, where 95 per cent of export revenues are from oil and gas, are irrefutable.

Shokri Ghanem, chairman of the National Oil Co (NOC) and the country’s most senior oilman, is the former Prime Minister. In 2004, he provoked international outrage by claiming that his country had no involvement in the murder of the British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher or the Lockerbie bombing. NOC is now BP’s partner in the country and Mr Ghanem was the executive who signed the 2007 deal with BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, in the presence of Tony Blair, then Prime Minister.

Al-Megrahi’s release also comes amid a highly delicate battle for influence over Tripoli between Russia and the West. It is a struggle tied to billions of dollars worth of oil and arms deals, which could shape Europe’s energy security for years to come.

Nick Day, a former MI5 officer who now runs Diligence, a political risk consultancy, said that a “competitive courtship” is under way between British, US and Russian interests to tap Libya’s oil and gas wealth. Russia, already the world’s biggest gas producer, is keen to exert greater control over Europe’s alternative supplies of the fuel and has been using its willingness to export weapons to Libya as leverage to secure energy deals and other concessions from Tripoli, he said.

“The Russians have been very aggressive in their negotiations because what Gaddafi needs right now are weapons. He still can’t get Western governments to sell to him, but the Russians are prepared to do it on the back of oil deals.”

Last year President Putin visited Tripoli...cont'd

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6797118.ece


-------


Libya Coming Closer to Russia

Saturday, 2 August 2008

On 31 July 2008, Libya's Prime Minister, Al-Mahmoud visited Russia in order to strengthen energy ties between two countries. This visit was an alarm for Europe, because Europe has worried about increasing dependence on Russian oil.

Before the negotiations among these countries, Al-Mahmoud had stated that "We would like to achieve bigger volumes in investment cooperation between Russia and Libya in the oil and gas sectors.

Libya, since 2003, has become an attractive market for both Russia and the West when the UN Security Council lifted sanctions against the country.

The other important side of this negotiation was concretization of Tripoli summit.

After Tripoli Summit which realized at 18 April 2008, Moscow wrote off $ 4.5 billion of Libya's debt in return for contracts going to Russia firms.

On the other hand, gas export monopoly of Russia, Gazprom, during the Tripoli summit showed that its interest locates participating in construction of pipeline which is between Libya and Europe.

Additionally, these agreements also show that Libyan Leader Gaddafi wants to balance this country's relation with the West through these special relations with Russia.

Cont'd
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/58159/libya-coming-closer-to-russia.html

----