Libya ships oil to US

Libya has begun shipping oil to the United States for the first time in 22 years, a senior American trade official said.

US Assistant Secretary of Commerce William Lash made the announcement at the end of a two-day visit to Libya to discuss trade and other commercial ties.

He said shipments of Libyan oil were on their way to America, but Libya’s new openness to the United States was even more important.

The two countries have transformed their relations since December when Libya declared that it was abandoning its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and would allow international inspection of its sites to produce them.