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Libya invites US oil companies back
This oughta light up Indymedia like a rocket...Libya says it would welcome back US oil companies, which are eager to return to their abandoned operations, should Washington lift economic sanctions after Libya pledged on Friday to abandon weapons of mass destruction. "The US has oil advantages in Libya," Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abderrhmane Chalgam told reporters. "We will try to convince US oil companies to return. We currently produce 1.5 million barrels per day and we aim to increase the oil output to 3 million bpd in 2020," Mr Chalgam said. The major US oil firms were once responsible for producing about 1 million barrels per day of Libya's crude. In Washington, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said positive developments in Libya could eventually lead the US to lift economic sanctions that bar US companies from doing business in the oil-rich country. "As Libya's policy changes, Libya's behaviour changes, Libya's circumstances change, we'll be willing to look at those things," Mr Boucher said. Five US oil firms were active in Libya before sanctions on investment in 1986, including Marathon Oil, Amerada Hess, ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum and Grace Petroleum. "We've made no secret that we would be very interested in returning to Libya if permitted," said Larry Meriage, spokesman for Occidental. "It was our Libyan discoveries that launched Occidental as a major player in the international arena. It also put Libya on the map as a major world oil producer."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-12-23 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=23212 |