BP will start deep-water drilling off the coast of Libya within weeks, a company spokesman said on Saturday, DPA reporetd.
"Drilling will begin in the next few weeks," spokesman David Nicholas told the German Press Agency dpa, confirming a report in the Final Times.
The move comes despite concerns about BP's safety and environmental record, following the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after and oil rig that had been drilling a well for BP exploded in April.
BP purchased the rights to explore for oil in Libya's Gulf of Sirte three years ago.
US authorities accuse BP of lobbying for the release of the Lockerbie bomber so it could begin drilling off Libya.
The bomber, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, was set free last year from a prison in Scotland and returned to his native Libya.