cancel2 2022
Canceled
I wonder if the sanctimonious group of senators investigating BP over Libya will also be looking at Exxon and Chevron as well? Occidental is also well represented in Libya, this is the self same company that steadfastly refused to meet its obligations over the Piper Alpha tragedy in the North Sea which resulted in 167 deaths.
In total, fifty US companies are doing business in Libya compared with four UK companies. Hypocrisy is obviously embedded in the very DNA of these companies, no surprise there!!
Hypocrisy of U.S. oil firms who deal with Gaddafi
Politicians in Washington have been accused of hypocrisy for their criticism of Britain and BP over links to Libya. It turns out that American energy companies have been leading the charge when it comes to forging links with Colonel Gaddafi's regime. Since Libya re-opened for business in 2005, US oil giants such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron have been piling in to stake their claim for Africa's largest oil reserves.
More than 50 American energy companies, compared to just four from the UK, have signed contracts with Tripoli for oil exploration and invested tens of billions of pounds in the country. Experts said pursuing such an agenda while criticising British companies that do the same thing shows America wants to 'have its cake and eat it'. Exxon, the world's largest oil company, has set up a special subsidiary, Exxon Mobil Libya Ltd, to keeping business running smoothly. So keen is the petro-chemical giant to get on the right side of the authorities, it is even funding £18million of initiatives to educate impoverished children as part of a countrywide social responsibility drive.
All Western companies left Libya in the late 1980s after the U.S. and EU imposed trade sanctions on Gaddafi's regime, which they said sponsored terrorism. The restrictions were lifted in 2005 and American energy companies have not looked back since, not least because Libya has proven crude-oil reserves of 39billion barrels and estimates potential reserves may be triple that amount. 'American companies-have been piling in to Libya with the support of the U.S. government,' said Phil Flynn, an oil analyst with Chicago-based PFG Best. 'The US wants to have its cake and eat it - it wants it both ways. 'Libya has the ninth largest oil reserves in the world right now and could well be a major player in the international oil market in the future.'
Exxon and Chevron have signed exploratory deals with Libya, while Conoco Phillips, Hess, Marathon and Occidental have invested small fortunes in the country and have begun production. Relations between Washington and Tripoli improved further that year when Gaddafi agreed to pay £1.2billion to settle all the compensation claims related to the Lockerbie bombing. By 2009, trade between the two nations reached £17billion. A senior analyst at Oppenheimer & Co, said: 'Since Libya was opened up to foreign investment in 2005, American companies have had the lion's share of contracts and the biggest representation in the country. 'There are 50 energy companies in the U.S. compared to four in the UK and all have been involved in Libya.'
An American oil industry veteran who worked in Libya for 19 years added: 'Surely these senators were not and are not aware of what goes on in the outside world. 'Perhaps they don't know that American oil companies and their associates are still very heavily involved in Libya.'
In total, fifty US companies are doing business in Libya compared with four UK companies. Hypocrisy is obviously embedded in the very DNA of these companies, no surprise there!!
Hypocrisy of U.S. oil firms who deal with Gaddafi
Politicians in Washington have been accused of hypocrisy for their criticism of Britain and BP over links to Libya. It turns out that American energy companies have been leading the charge when it comes to forging links with Colonel Gaddafi's regime. Since Libya re-opened for business in 2005, US oil giants such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron have been piling in to stake their claim for Africa's largest oil reserves.
More than 50 American energy companies, compared to just four from the UK, have signed contracts with Tripoli for oil exploration and invested tens of billions of pounds in the country. Experts said pursuing such an agenda while criticising British companies that do the same thing shows America wants to 'have its cake and eat it'. Exxon, the world's largest oil company, has set up a special subsidiary, Exxon Mobil Libya Ltd, to keeping business running smoothly. So keen is the petro-chemical giant to get on the right side of the authorities, it is even funding £18million of initiatives to educate impoverished children as part of a countrywide social responsibility drive.
All Western companies left Libya in the late 1980s after the U.S. and EU imposed trade sanctions on Gaddafi's regime, which they said sponsored terrorism. The restrictions were lifted in 2005 and American energy companies have not looked back since, not least because Libya has proven crude-oil reserves of 39billion barrels and estimates potential reserves may be triple that amount. 'American companies-have been piling in to Libya with the support of the U.S. government,' said Phil Flynn, an oil analyst with Chicago-based PFG Best. 'The US wants to have its cake and eat it - it wants it both ways. 'Libya has the ninth largest oil reserves in the world right now and could well be a major player in the international oil market in the future.'
Exxon and Chevron have signed exploratory deals with Libya, while Conoco Phillips, Hess, Marathon and Occidental have invested small fortunes in the country and have begun production. Relations between Washington and Tripoli improved further that year when Gaddafi agreed to pay £1.2billion to settle all the compensation claims related to the Lockerbie bombing. By 2009, trade between the two nations reached £17billion. A senior analyst at Oppenheimer & Co, said: 'Since Libya was opened up to foreign investment in 2005, American companies have had the lion's share of contracts and the biggest representation in the country. 'There are 50 energy companies in the U.S. compared to four in the UK and all have been involved in Libya.'
An American oil industry veteran who worked in Libya for 19 years added: 'Surely these senators were not and are not aware of what goes on in the outside world. 'Perhaps they don't know that American oil companies and their associates are still very heavily involved in Libya.'
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