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To: Gottfried who wrote (28318)	8/25/1998 6:21:00 PM
From: pz	Respond to of 95453

Tuesday August 25, 4:38 pm Eastern Time Oil Officials Postpone Meeting MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A planned meeting of the oil ministers of Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela has been postponed to give them time to see the impact of recent cuts in production, Mexico's Secretariat of Energy announced Tuesday. No new date has been set for the meeting, which had been scheduled to take place this week in Mexico. Mexico, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia led efforts in March and June to remove 3.1 million barrels a day from world oil markets in an effort to push up sagging prices. The meeting of Mexican Energy Secretary Luis Tellez, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi and Venezuelan Energy Minister Erwin Arrieta was to study the effects of the cuts.

To: Gottfried who wrote (28318)	8/25/1998 6:23:00 PM
From: pz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Tuesday August 25 5:29 PM EDT Libya Weighs Lockerbie Trial, Families Skeptical TUNIS (Reuters) - Libya said Tuesday it would give its decision in 24 hours on a U.S.-British plan to try two Libyans in the Netherlands for the bombing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. Families of the victims expressed skepticism about the chances of such a trial, while Libya's close ally South African President Nelson Mandela said he was ''confident that (the plan) should lead to the resolution of this matter.'' At stake for Libya is the possibility of an easing of the sanctions imposed over its refusal to hand over the two men suspected of being behind the December, 1988, bombing of the Pan Am plane, or a U.S. attempt to extend the sanctions to include Libyan oil exports, its economic lifeblood. A U.S. official said Monday that Washington would seek to expand U.N. sanctions against the OPEC member to include Libyan oil sales if Tripoli failed to hand over the two suspects. But European analysts said an attempt at such a ban would be resisted by Western majors because of European reliance on Libyan energy. ''There is almost no chance that European companies will join a boycott of Libyan oil exports,'' said Peter Bogin of Cambridge Energy Research in Paris. ''The rewards are too great.'' On Tuesday, Washington and London introduced a Security Council resolution that would suspend sanctions against Libya once the two Libyan men arrived in the Netherlands for trial. In April 1992,.the Security Council imposed a flight and arms ban on Libya unless it surrendered the suspects for trial in Britain or the United States. Sanctions were tightened in 1993 with the addition of a freeze on some Libyan assets abroad and a ban on some types of equipment used in oil terminals and refineries. Libyan state-run television, monitored in Tunis, said Tuesday that foreign ministry and justice ministry officials as well as experts had been studying the U.S. and British proposal since it was received through the U.N. secretary-general. Quoting foreign ministry sources, the television said Tripoli would give its official answer Wednesday. Meanwhile the Libyan lawyer for the two suspects said Tuesday the defense team would meet in Tripoli within a week or, at most, two weeks to discuss conditions for a fair trial and consult the suspects. ''We need to consult with my colleagues (the defense team) and with the two suspects to set up the legal point of view that would lead to a just trial with all conditions that secure the rights of our clients,'' Ibrahim Legwell, head of the defense team, told Reuters. ''We are considering things positively and want to remove any obstacle in front of such a trial that we have been looking for a long time,'' added Legwell, talking by telephone from Tripoli. Legwell told Reuters last month the suspects would accept a trial in The Hague ''if the conditions for a fair trial are provided to protect their rights pending, during and after the trial.'' Legwell said at the time that his two clients, Abdel Basset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, should not be handed over, but should present themselves voluntarily once the defense team was convinced the trial would be fair. But a source close to the victims' families said they felt sure that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi would find a way of ensuring the two men never went on trial. ''I think there's no prospect of a trial taking place. The Libyans will never surrender the suspects,'' the source said.