Malta, Lybia To Agree Over Disputed Territory Oil Drilling

Libya and Malta are likely to sing an agreement over oil exploration in disputed waters could be decided by the autumn following talks in Tripoli Wednesday.

Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi held a meeting with Maltese President Eddie Fenech Adami to try to strike a long-awaited deal.

Malta has been seeking an agreement for joint exploration in the Mediterranean sea, on the lines of a similar agreement with Tunisia.

The tension came to a head in the 1980s, when a Libyan gunboat stopped an Italian oil rig commissioned by Malta from drilling in the Medina Bank, one of the disputed areas. That issue was later decided by the International Court of Justice, but the ruling did not cover the delineation of other areas of the continental shelf between the two countries.