BP to drill off coast of Libya

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136035§ionid=3510203


The oil giant BP will start drilling off the Libyan coast soon, amid intense pressure over the company's involvement with the Lockerbie case.

The deep-water drilling will take place in the Gulf of Sirte off the northern coast of Libya within a few weeks, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

The news comes at a time when investigators are probing the oil giant for its involvement in the release of Abdel-Basset al-Megrahi-also known as the 'Lockerbie bomber' to secure the multi-million dollar contract with the North African nation.

BP and its Libyan partner, the Libya Investment Corporation (LIC), signed an exploration agreement worth $900 million with Libya's National Oil Company (NOC) in 2007.

With the US still angry over the Gulf of Mexico environmental disaster, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to investigate whether BP played any part in the Scottish government's decision last year to release the Lockerbie bomber from prison.

BP denies any involvement and argues that Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds.

Megrahi was the only man convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan American flight to the United States, which crashed over the Scottish town of Lockerbie leaving 270 people dead. Most of the passengers onboard the airliner were US citizens.