28.06.10 Libya Focus BP gets the go-ahead from NOC

Shukri Ghanem, Chairman of National Oil Corporation (NOC)

Shukri Ghanem, chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), has released an official statement, posted on the company's web site, confirming that BP will be allowed to continue drilling for oil and gas in Libya.

The statement comes just days after BP announced that it has, so far, spent over $2billion in trying to clear up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Talking about the Mexico spill, Ghanem said that the disaster will not change NOC's, "confidence" in BP or stand in the way of the deep-water drilling progress in the country.

The Libyan government signed an agreement with BP, back in 2007, which gave BP permission to explore for gas along an offshore tract. In view of the recent troubles BP has encountered in Mexico, there had been talk, among industry insiders, that Libya might void the terms of consent. However, Ghanem has praised the company by saying it had, "huge capabilities, long-standing experience and high-standard abilities," and that it will therefore "overcome the crisis."

BP has stressed the fact that the work in the Gulf of Mexico is ongoing, and that the process of extracting oil is expected to improve in the coming days. BP also said it was too early to determine the total cost of the damage, caused by the oil platform explosion.

Source: Bloomberg BusinessWeek

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