BP Will Return to Libya 'When Conditions Allow'

BP said on Monday that it would seek to return to Libya to continue its exploration program "when conditions allow" as Libyan leader Moammer Gadhafi faces imminent defeat.

"We intend to resume our activities and return to the country when conditions allow," a BP spokesman told Agence France Presse.

The London-listed oil giant evacuated its expatriate staff in February when a popular revolt broke out against strongman Gadhafi.

BP's Libyan operations are still in the early stages of development so the company did not have much infrastructure there.

The spokesman added that BP had been about to start drilling in the desert in the Ghadames base and it was keeping in contact with its 100 local staff who remain in Libya.

A 2007 accord with Tripoli allowed BP to drill in the Mediterranean's Gulf of Sirte at depths of around 1,700 meters (5,500 feet) and at the onshore site near Ghadames.

The deal faced criticism in the United States, with suspicions that BP lobbied for the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, to push through the agreement.

Libyan Megrahi is the only person ever convicted of blowing up a U.S. airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people, mostly Americans.