Squeezing Libya

U.S. plans oil embargo

Ever since the Reagan Administration marked Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi as a foremost enemy, the U.S. pur chase of Libyan oil has seemed strangely inconsistent. Oil is virtually Libya's only source of wealth, and the radical strong man has been using profits to train terror ists. One consideration was that some 2,500 Americans in Libya could have been seized by Gaddafi, creating an Iran-style hostage crisis.

Last week Reagan infor mally approved a recommen dation that imports of Libyan oil be banned and that sales of American oil-drilling equipment to Libya be cut off. The action was now seen as feasible for two reasons: 1) after repeated State Department warnings, the number of Americans in Lib ya, mainly with oil companies, has been cut to fewer than 400, and those apparently refuse to leave; 2) the current oil glut makes it easier for the U.S. to replace the 120,000 bbl. per day (2% of U.S. oil imports) it has been buying from Libya and might make it more difficult for Libya to sell that amount ( 1 3 % of its oil exports) elsewhere. -

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