LIBYA: Oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell seized on warmer ties between Libya and the West to sign an industrial partnership with the oil-rich country yesterday, 20 years after the company stopped work there.
Libyan officials and the Anglo-Dutch group Shell, whose move puts Libya back on the radar for the world's top oil firms, said it was too early to talk about specific deals. But officials accompanying the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, on a landmark visit to Tripoli said Shell was on the verge of a $200 million natural gas project there.
"We expect to sign exploration agreements in the next few weeks, or one or two months," Shell's new head of exploration and production, Mr Malcolm Brinded, said in Tripoli. "This will be an important step enabling Shell to play a role in developing Libya's upstream oil and gas industry," he said.
As Mr Blair shook hands with Col Gaddafi, Libya's foreign minister told reporters he would try to open up exploration and rebuild neglected facilities. - (Reuters)