BP to drill for Libyan oil despite Lockerbie bomber furor
Oil giant BP said Thursday that it planned to start drilling off the coast of Libya within weeks despite calls from U.S. senators for a moratorium over the company's alleged links to the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told NBC’s TODAY on Thursday that the U.K. government should investigate what role the company played in the decision to free Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in August 2009.
"We want a moratorium on the drilling [by BP] off Libya's coast. We believe BP should not be allowed to drill until we have resolution of this," she told the show.
For those out of the loop or needing a refresher, Scotland released Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in August 2009, the only convicted Lockerbie Bomber, on compassionate grounds. At the time he was expected to die, but a year later he remains alive. It has come to light that BP lobbied for his release, to what extent is not clear. In May 2007 BP signed a $900 million exploration agreement with Libya, the same month the Britain and Libya started discussions on al-Megrahi's release.
Was there a quid pro quo or some their consideration? That is unknown, but it certainly is worthy of further investigation. Which is why Gillibrand asked for a moratorium on the drilling until the matter could be investigated.
But BP is arrogant and unrelenting in its search for profits, apparently and is going ahead. Now this may be nothing, it may be business as usual (I am reminded of the scene in [i]The Aviator[/i] where Howard Hughes lectures Congress), or it could be very nefarious. Who knows, but I would think BP would show a little more common sense than to thumb its nose at the reasonable requests made by the US Government.