BP Snags Libyan Gas Fields

North Africa is looking more attractive to big business—especially the oil business

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted May 30, 2007 10:00 AM CDT

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BP Snags Libyan Gas Fields — Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, meets Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, right, at his desert base outside Sirte south of Tripoli, Tuesday May 29, 2007. Blair arrived in Libya on Tuesday at the start of his farewell African tour seeking to build action on Darfur and climate change. (AP Photo/Leon... (Associated Press)

The deal BP made with Libya this week for rights to huge gas fields demonstrates the new attraction North Africa has for investors. Once controlled by what Business Week calls "pariahs and basket cases," the area now looks stable (compared to the Middle East, that is) and is a good deal closer to Western Europe than the Persian Gulf.

The deal, made during Tony Blair's good-bye visit to Muammar Qaddafi, may have been partially a reward to Britain for helping Libya to shake off its pariah status; BP hopes to find 20- to 30-trillion cubic feet of gas in the newly purchased land. The British giant joins Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil, which have already wrapped up major deals.
(More Libya stories.)

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