Clinton to look into senators' request on BP, Libya

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi sits in a wheelchair in his room at a hospital in Tripoli, September 9, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday she would look into a request by U.S. lawmakers that the State Department investigate whether oil company BP Plc had a hand in the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.

According to media reports, London-based oil company BP lobbied the British government to support the prison transfer, which may have encouraged Libya to finalize an offshore drilling deal with BP.

Megrahi, convicted in connection with the 1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people, was released last August on compassionate grounds after doctors said the 57-year-old convict was near death.

Nearly a year later, Megrahi, an alleged Libyan intelligence officer, is still alive.

"I have received the letter and we will obviously look into it," Clinton said in response to a reporter's question, referring to a letter from Democratic Senators Robert Menendez, Frank Lautenberg, Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer.

Menendez and Lautenberg represent New Jersey and Gillibrand and Schumer New York. People from both states died in the Lockerbie bombing.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Jerry Norton)