FACTBOX: Foreign investments in Libya since sanctions ended

(Reuters) - U.S. companies are hoping Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Libya on Friday will improve access to a country in desperate need of foreign investment and expertise as it emerges from years of sanctions.

But the oil-rich north African state remains a risky bet due to an opaque bureaucracy, erratic decision making and the lack of a transparent business culture.

Here are the main sectors that stand to gain from improved U.S. ties and some examples of inward investment deals since the end of the international embargo.

POTENTIAL INVESTMENT SECTORS

OIL/GAS - This sector, the pillar of Libya's economy, is already open to U.S. participation. But better relations, in particular the provision of more visas for U.S. executives, are expected to help deepen the U.S. role in the energy sector. The main U.S. companies involved so far are Amerada Hess, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental.

INFRASTRUCTURE - Water, telecoms, transport, power generation and distribution, construction and engineering.

BANKING - Libya wants to modernize its primitive state-dominated banking sector and is seeking outside expertise.

HEALTH - Libya is upgrading its health sector and wants to attract international medical expertise to support this effort.

EXAMPLES OF INWARD INVESTMENT

January 2005 - Libya names U.S. firms Amerada Hess Corp and Occidental Petroleum Corp, Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd and Brazil's Petrobras among winners in its first post-sanctions upstream oil and gas licensing round.

November 2005 - State-run mobile network operator Libyana agrees $40 million deal with China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to expand Libyana's network by an additional 1 million subscribers.

August 2006 - Indian construction firm Punj Lloyd Ltd. says it wins a $290.5 million order from Libya's Sirte Oil Co. to build two pipelines.

August 2006 - Libya nearly doubles, to about $1.7 billion, the amount of work on a housing township to be done by a subsidiary of Malaysian builder Ranhill Bhd, a source familiar with the matter says.

May 2007 - During a visit to Libya by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Tripoli agrees to buy British missiles and air defence systems and oil giant BP signs major gas exploration deal with an initial exploration commitment of at least $900 million.

May 2007 - South Korea's Daewoo Engineering and Construction says it signs a final contract worth 782.5 billion won ($847.3 million) to build two power plants in Libya.

July 2007 - Libya selects a 145 million euro offer from BNP Paribas for 19 percent stake and strategic partnership in Sahara Bank, the first partial privatization deal for Libya.

December 2007 - Libya awards permits to Russia's Gazprom, Algeria's Sonatrach, Royal Dutch Shell and Poland's PGNiG in its first gas-focused exploration licensing round.

December 2007 - France heralds billions of euros in Libyan deals for airliners, utilities, construction and nuclear power during a visit to Tripoli by President Nicolas Sarkozy but industry sources play down the scale of the contracts. Among the announced deals were orders for 21 Airbus aircraft, worth a total of around $3.2 billion at list prices.

December 2007 - South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. signs a 630.4 billion won ($675.4 million) deal to build a power plant in Libya.

April 2008 - Russia agrees to cancel $4.5 billion of Libyan debt on Thursday, unlocking big military and civilian deals including a 2.2 billion euro ($3.48 billion) contract for Russian state railways.

August 2008 - Rome and Tripoli sign a $5 billion colonial compensation deal under which Italian firms will build a highway across Libya and win access to energy contracts.

(Reporting by Tom Pfeiffer)