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Gold/Mining/Energy : Lundin Oil (LOILY, LOILB Sweden) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (1274)	9/1/1999 9:34:00 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 2742

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur avoids capital flight - Financial Times, September 2 By Jonathan Birchall in Kuala Lumpur A day billed as Malaysia's moment of reckoning with the international financial community, the easing of controversial capital controls imposed a year ago at the height of the country's economic crisis, passed off without drama yesterday. "September 1 turned out to be a bit of a yawn," said Tan Min Lan, a regional economist at Merrill Lynch in Singapore. Malaysia's state bank, Bank Negara, said that $328m of portfolio funds were repatriated during the day, an amount it described as small. The government had previously estimated that $1.3bn-$1.8bn might leave the country as a result of the removal of a 10 per cent exit tax on portfolio investments made before September 1 last year. A graduated exit tax of 10-30 per cent, depending on the length of the investment, is now applied only to repatriated capital gains. The Kuala Lumpur stock exchange ended the day down just 14.15 at 752.91, a 1.8 per cent fall, in quiet trading. Most analysts had already argued against a heavy sell-off on the grounds that most investors seeking to repatriate funds immediately would already have sold in the run-up to the September 1 deadline. Foreign interest has been supported by continuing signs of recovery in the Malaysian economy and last month's news that the country's stock market would be restored to the much-tracked Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) indices next February. The release yesterday of preliminary trade figures for July gave further evidence of a recovery in Malaysian exports, underpinned by the electronics sector. At M$17.1bn (US$4.5bn) the month's exports were up 17.9 per cent on July last year, when the country was in recession.

To: Tomas who wrote (1274)	9/10/1999 8:13:00 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 2742

U.S. OKs Occidental Petroleum for Libya Survey By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) September 10 - The Clinton administration is allowing Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:OXY - news) to send representatives to survey oil-production facilities abandoned in Libya because of U.S. sanctions, industry sources said Friday. It will be the first such visit by an American company with assets in Libya since sanctions were imposed in 1986. The sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified, said the permission was granted by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The U.N. Security Council suspended in April sanctions against Libya that included a ban on air travel. Libya opened the way for the council to act by agreeing to surrender for trial two suspects wanted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. With the Security Council sanctions lifted, U.S. oil companies with interests in Libya requested permission to survey the equipment and other facilities they abandoned in Libya under U.S. sanctions, which remain in effect. Only Occidental's plea has been approved. A request similar to Occidental's has been filed with the Treasury Department by a three-company oil consortium composed of Amerada Hess Corp. (NYSE:AHC - news), Conoco Inc. (NYSE:COCa - news) and Marathon Oil Co., all of which, like Occidental, left Libya in 1986. John Lichtblau, of the New York-based Petroleum Industry Research Foundation, said U.S. oil companies with interests in Libya are urging the Clinton administration to suspend the unilateral U.S. sanctions. They argue that such action would be a logical follow-up to the Security Council's action at the United Nations, Lichtblau said. Among other sanctions, the United States bars most trade with Libya. European companies have been operating without American competition in Libya for 13 years, Lichtblau noted. He said production in Libya has been averaging 1.3 million barrels a day lately. Family members of the Pan Am 103 victims have urged the administration to reject the requests to ease the rules for oil companies to keep from signaling Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that Washington wants the sanctions ended. Administration officials would not discuss the rationale for approving Occidental's request or even admit that it was approved. Libya's decision to turn over the suspects for trial has touched off speculation about a possible U.S. accommodation, but at least for the time being the State Department is maintaining a tough stance. For now, the administration says it is watching to see whether Libya complies with demands the Security Council has set for outright lifting of the sanctions. Libya is required to end and renounce all forms of terrorism, compensate families of Pan Am 103 victims, admit responsibility for its officials' actions and cooperate with the investigation and trial. A Scottish tribunal sitting in the Netherlands will conduct the trial, with proceedings to begin in February. Libya is among seven countries listed by the State Department as sponsors of international terror. For years the United States has regarded Gadhafi's 30-year-old government as a pariah, although officials now say they have detected no Libyan involvement in terrorist activities for years. A former senior State Department official, Herman Cohen, has made three unannounced visits to Libya and discussed with Gadhafi ways to end the impasse that has existed between the two countries virtually from the time Gadhafi seized power. dailynews.yahoo.com