Libya’s domestic ructions may have put paid to BP’s hopes of becoming a leading oil producer in the country. As The Wall Street Journal’s Benoît Faucon reports, the British oil major is in talks to relinquish control of a huge project in the North African country, amid growing concerns over security.
Such a deal would represent a marked volte face by BP, which signed a much-heralded deal with former dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2007.
The company was poised to start drilling two onshore blocks before civil war erupted in 2011, when it was forced to halt operations.
Despite the end of the war, Libya’s oil industry has continued to be hobbled by lingering security worries and strike action by various political factions.
MARKETS
Oil futures were lower Thursday, as the weight of plentiful supply continued to pressure prices downward. December Brent on London’s ICE futures exchange was down 85 cents, or 0.81%, at $104.39 a barrel. The December contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 33 cents, or 0.35%, at $95.11 a barrel.
