Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi addresses the media during the official closing ceremony of the Sixth African Union Summit, in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, January 24, 2006. (Antony Njuguna/Reuters)
Posted on 01/25/2006 3:37:36 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LONDON (Reuters) - Libya expects the United States to remove it soon from its list of state sponsors of terror, clearing a major obstacle to investment in some of the world's most coveted oilfields, a top Libyan official said on Wednesday.
He was "positive and confident" the former pariah state would be wiped from the list, with the expected backing of the Oasis Group of U.S. oil firms that have just negotiated their return to fields they were forced to abandon in 1986.
"I would expect logically they will be willing to put the right message across to the U.S. government to do something about it quickly," Tarek Hassan-Beck of Libya's National Oil Company told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"It's only logical that they will. We're in the same boat."
The Oasis group comprises ConocoPhillips, Marathon and Amerada Hess.
An international lawyer who has worked on cases involving Libya said he believed companies might be reluctant to pour new capital into the oil producer unless they had assurances Washington would restore full ties.
"This is a high-risk strategy .... unless of course there were some understanding as to how long the existing sanctions would remain," said Timothy Scrantom of Meridian 361 International Law Group.
A U.S. state department official declined comment and no one from the Oasis Group was immediately available.
Libya's presence on the terrorism list bars it from receiving U.S. exports, controls sales of items with military and civilian uses, limits U.S. aid and requires Washington to vote against loans from international financial institutions.
"For them to do any business, they have to use U.S. equipment," said Hassan-Beck of the Oasis Group.
YEARS OF ISOLATION
The U.S. government designated Libya a state sponsor of terror on December 29, 1979, and in 1986 imposed unilateral economic sanctions following a terrorist bombing at a discotheque in Berlin.
International sanctions were slapped on Libya following its involvement in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie in Scotland.
Libya took responsibility for the incident in 2003 and in the same year decided to abandon its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, which led to the lifting of most remaining U.S. economic sanctions.
The U.S. also authorized the Oasis Group and fellow U.S. company Occidental Petroleum Corp to begin negotiating their return to Libya.
Occidental reached swift agreement and returned to Libya last year.
But the Oasis Group talks dragged on as both sides haggled over terms.
In a deal clinched in December, the group agreed to pay Libya $1.3 billion for the contract extension as well as $530 million as a contribution to amortized investments made since 1986 in its mothballed acreage.
The Libyan National Oil Corporation will hold a 59.16 percent interest, while ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil will each hold 16.33 percent and Amerada Hess will hold 8.16 percent.
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi addresses the media during the official closing ceremony of the Sixth African Union Summit, in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, January 24, 2006. (Antony Njuguna/Reuters)
Do we think this is an honest change of heart or just appeasment on their part? Keeping a close eye on this lot would be a really good idea. Hey Muammar how's about you let some of our special forces come and take tour of he countryside.
He dresses like Michael Jackson, but I think we should reward him for giving up his WMD programs and admitting guilt in the Pan Am bombing.
I think reagan kicking their ass then the years of isolation from US markets had an impact. :)
You insult Muammar Gaddafi! No soup for you! 
the winner and truly intelligent infidel of the discussion!
OTOH, at least he's not letting Michael Jackson move to his desert paradise, so he can't be all bad.
it was a one eyed,one horn flying purple people eater...
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