The oil and gas industry is used to interesting surprises, but one came up last week that is of special interest. That's when Shukri Ghanim, chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp., expressed his support for the beleaguered BP PLC.
"We have agreed that this company can work in Libya on the basis that oil leaks are a risk that has to be accepted," Ghanim told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. "The issue of leaks without any doubt is a catastrophe, but on the other hand it is part of the risks that always occur at work."
Support from Libya may or may not be welcome, given suggestions by US senators that BP was involved in the release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan intelligence officer who was the only person convicted of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1998.
Diplomatic exchanges
Senior senators, who have scheduled a hearing on the matter for July 29, are demanding to know whether "justice and punishment for terrorism took a back seat to back-room deals for an oil contract" involving Libya and BP. Ahead of the hearing, they requested action from Sec. of State Hilary Clinton.
Following diplomatic exchanges, Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague sent Clinton and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry a letter offering his assurances that there is no evidence suggesting that BP had any connection to the release of Megrahi.
"There is no evidence that corroborates in any way the allegations of BP involvement in the Scottish executive's decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds in 2009, nor any suggestion that the Scottish executive decided to release Megrahi in order to facilitate oil deals for BP," Hague said.
Hague also said Nigel Sheinwald, the British ambassador to the US, would remain in close contact with the Senate committee to discuss what "other assistance it would be appropriate for us to give" on the matter.
Toxic climate
There's no telling how that will go down, given what one expert recently called the "toxic" climate in the US when it comes to discussing anything about BP. Nor, for that matter, is there any telling how a statement of BP's will be accepted either.
BP acknowledged that it had expressed concerns—and lobbied the British government—about the slow progress in resolving a different prisoner transfer agreement with Libya in 2007. But it otherwise has denied any specific involvement with the Megrahi case.
That's the situation that Ghanim stepped into with his support of BP. "Regardless of political actions and rulers viewpoints, we judge from the technical angle," he told Asharq al-Awsat.
"This is a tragedy like aviation tragedies," he said. "When an aviation tragedy occurs, this does not halt aviation across the world." More to the point, he said what we all need to remember: "Drilling in deep remote waters can be exposed to surprises."
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