Royal Dutch/Shell seeking Libya deal

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell said Thursday that it is looking to return to Libya, 9 years after it pulled out of the country.

A Shell representative attended a May 10 meeting hosted by Libya's National Oil Co., the purpose of which was to outline the terms and acreage allotments for participation in an oil and gas exploration and licensing round in the country. The round would include a clause that allows the export of gas to external markets for the first time, sources said.

More than 40 foreign oil companies reportedly attended the meeting.

Libya has been trying to attract oil firms back into the country since the United Nations suspended sanctions last year after Libya surrendered two Libyan citizens accused of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988. Shell left Libya in 1991 after giving up acreage in the Ghadames basin when it failed to make commercial finds on onshore Block NC-147. It operated and held an 80% interest in the block, which it purchased from Italy's Societa Energie Montedison.