June 27, 2010 - While troubling news of a tropical storm worsening the BP oil disaster hits the States, thousands of miles away over the Atlantic a country plans to drill in its locations of offshore waters for oil next month. The country of Libya has struck up a contract with the same exact oil company that was responsible for the current and historically the biggest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
As part of its recent efforts to attract foreign investors, the Libyan government’s oil minister, Shokri Ghanem, confirmed the 2007 contract with BP and will oversee the drilling in the Mediterranean which is due to happen next month. Answering questions of incredulity at the fact that BP will be drilling, Minister Ghanem stated that although the deaths of those working on Deepwater Horizon and the resulting oil spill were “tragic accidents”, Ghanem is confident that the British oil baron with its “good experience” can successfully retrieve Libyan oil.

Additionally, Shokri Ghanem referred to the huge untapped oil reserves as a “new frontier” and emphasized the need “to go on with life and learn the lessons from it.” After meeting with Tony Hayward, the former chief executive officer of BP who was ‘scapegoated’, Ghanem’s confidence was bolstered after being reassured the British oil company will do its best.

Typical of a Middle Eastern OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) member, Libya has a very large amount of oil and is estimated to have the ninth largest oil reserve in the world. While BP is noted to be the first ever foreign company to drill in offshore waters for an OPEC member, its fortunes have been drastically waning in the markets.

The shocking drop and the more-than-possible future decline in BP’s stock value has led various analysts to speculate the BP plc is “expected” to become a ‘takeover target’.

The future of BP remains clear to those who insist that it will fall as the company has been the #1 producer of oil for the U.S since 2000 and last year’s statistics showed BP to very dependent on the United States for profits even though it has been very active in waters off of almost every continent and countries like Egypt and Brazil.

Others are saying BP will not die off even if their business prospects in the U.S flicker out as it has numerous contracts with other world powers and access to large oil reserves.source: inewp.com