U.S. approves oil trip to Libya by Occidental
By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - The Clinton Administration approved a request for Occidental Petroleum to visit Libya and check on assets the company was forced to abandon in the mid-1980s, a government source told Reuters on Thursday.
The travel license for Occidental executives was approved last week by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the source said.
The license comes at a time when U.S. oil firms have had to sit on the sidelines while European oil companies begin to make overtures for investing in Libya. Earlier this month, Britain resumed diplomatic relations with the North African country.
Libya plans to revise its petroleum laws and launch an international oil licensing round early next year.
But a group of U.S. senators is pressuring Treasury to deny licenses to American oil firms wanting to go to Libya.
U.S. firms should not be allowed to go to Libya, because the country is listed as terrorist state and U.N. sanctions against Libya remain in place, the senators said.
''It is premature to allow American companies to survey assets and perform seismic testing in Libya with an eye toward investing,'' the lawmakers said in letter on Tuesday to Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.
The letter was signed by eight senators including Democrats Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Charles Schumer of New York and Barbara Boxer of California, and Republicans Sam Brownback of Kansas and Gordon Smith of Washington.
A Treasury spokeswoman confirmed a license was issued to a U.S. oil company, but would not say if it was Occidental.
The license allows the unnamed oil company to travel to Libya ''for the purpose of gathering information and conducting inspections on its property,'' she said.
A spokesman for Occidental refused to confirm a travel license had been issued, or even that such a request was made.
Occidental remained active in Libya until 1986, when President Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. oil companies to end all business activities there. Those oil assets are now overseen by Libya's state oil company under an agreement that expired a decade ago but which Libya still honors.
Occidental is being allowed to travel to Libya simply to check on its property, not to seek new investment opportunities, the U.S. government source said.
Under the terms of the license, Occidental will be able to send field technicians and one executive or attorney.
Treasury is also reviewing another travel request from Marathon Oil, Conoco and Amerada Hess, according to the government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The three companies also left Libya in 1986.
A Conoco spokeswoman confirmed that it made a request, but had not yet been issued a license from the U.S. government.
A Marathon spokesman declined comment, except to say the company ''remains very interested'' in eventually returning to Libya. Amerada Hess officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The United Nations and the U.S. government imposed separate sanctions affecting Libya's oil sector after the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Scotland, which killed 270 people.
U.S. sanctions prohibit banks from financing or arranging transactions that ultimately benefit Libya, including brokering third-country sales of Libyan crude oil or transportation for Libyan cargo, and also forbid business travel to the country.
Separately, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that penalizes foreign companies for making new investments of more than $40 million a year in Libya's oil sector.
U.S. oil companies Exxon and Mobil left Libya in 1982, and Amerada Hess, Marathon, Occidental and Conoco left when Reagan ordered them out in 1986.
Libya has 12 oilfields with reserves of one billion barrels of crude or more, and two others with reserves of 500 million to one billion barrels.
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