LIBYA - The US Companies.

Prevented by Washington from operating in Libya since 1986, the five US companies which still have some status in the country are: Occidental Petroleum (once the biggest US operator in Libya); the three partners in the Oasis venture, Conoco, Marathon and Amerada Hess; and Grace Petroleum (see their background in profiles of the NOC units).

They were ordered out of Libya in Jan. 1986 by the Reagan administration. Their interests had given them rights to about 30% of Libya's oil production. In Jan. 1989, Washington announced plans to allow the five firms to resume their Libyan operations through non-US units. Tripoli insisted that the five parent firms themselves return by end-1989 and put three conditions: an end to the US embargo, Washington should allow the firms' US employees to return to Libya, and the companies should undertake to step up exploration in their respective Libyan blocks. Washington was adamant and since then the US sanctions have been renewed annually.

The companies resumed negotiations with NOC in 1992, with the hope of finding a compromise. Washington hardened its position and, together with France and Britain, got the UN Security Council to impose limited sanctions against Libya in April 1992. That was because Libya refused to hand over suspects in the bombing of two passenger planes. NOC officials have said since then that some of the five firms' interests in Libya remain theoretically intact, although they are officially frozen. Some of the firms are said to have given up hope of making a deal. But Conoco is in the lead of US companies insisting on returning to Libya.

There are 12 oilfields in Libya with reserves of more than 1 bn barrels in each. The fields of NOC are mainly in the Sirte Basin, the most prolific oil province in North Africa, which covers the north-central and north-eastern parts of Libya. There are another two fields with 500m to 1 bn barrels each. NOC holds 51% in the North African Geophysical Exploration Co. (Nageco), which started up in August 1988 and now does extensive work. The partner with 49% is Western Geophysical Co. (WGC) of Calgary. WGC is a unit of Dresser Atlas Co. of Houston. An important unit at NOC, the National EOR Committee, was formed in 1981 to assess the full potential of Libya's oilfields and oversee EOR projects. The first EOR system in Libya was installed in 1969 at the Intisar D field.