Libya ratifies gas deal-BP
LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Libya has ratified a big natural gas exploration deal it signed with BP Plc last year, a company spokesman said on Monday.
The spokesman said the $900 million deal was ratified on Jan 29.
Under the bilaterally negotiated accord unveiled on May 29 2007, BP will drill 17 exploration wells across 54,000 square kilometres (13.3 million acres) with an initial exploration budget of $900 million.
The move, the result of almost a year of talks and a cherished project of former BP Chief John Browne, sees the firm returning to Libya more than 30 years after its assets there were nationalised by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 1971.
The acreage is in the the onshore Ghadames and offshore frontier Sirte basins.
BP will work with a Libyan partner, the Libyan government-backed Libyan Investment Corporation (LIC), which manages a series of official investment funds.
Many foreign oil company interests in Libya were nationalised in the 1970s. Others pulled out when the United States imposed sanctions in 1986.
Libya has attracted big interest from international oil companies since 2004, when the United States and the European Union eased sanctions following Libya's agreement not to pursue nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. (Editing by James Jukwey)
