BP linked to release of Lockerbie bomber?

BP to drill for Libyan oil despite Lockerbie bomber furor

U.S. senators urge delays but BP says it will press ahead within weeks

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LONDON — Oil giant BP said Thursday that it planned to start

 drilling off the coast of Libya within weeks despite calls from

 U.S. senators for a moratorium over the company's alleged 

links to the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told NBC’s TODAY 

on Thursday that the U.K. government should investigate 

what role the company played in the decision to free

 Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in August 2009.

"We want a moratorium on the drilling [by BP] off Libya's coast. 

We believe BP should not be allowed to drill until we have resolution 

of this," she told the show.

Al-Megrahi, 57, is the only person convicted of carrying out the 

1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, 

that killed 270 people.

He was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish 

government after doctors said he was likely just months
from death. 

Nearly a year later, he remains alive.

BP signed a $900 million exploration agreement with
Libya in May 2007, 

the same month that Britain and Libya signed an agreement
 that paved the

 way for al-Megrahi's release from a Scottish prison.

BP has admitted that it lobbied the British government over
a prisoner transfer 

deal with Libya in late 2007, but denied playing any role in
the actual decision 

to release al-Megrahi nearly two years later.