More than 40 foreign oil companies are working in Libya, including London-based BP Plc, Eni SpA of Rome, Irving, Texas- based Exxon Mobil Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp., which has headquarters in Los Angeles.

Qaddafi's spending program is attracting companies such as Alcatel SA, which is based outside Paris, Munich-based Siemens AG, Milan's Impregilo SpA and London-based Rentokil Initial Plc. Businesses from China, South Korea, Brazil and Turkey also are working in Libya, said Salah el-Houni, head of international exhibitions for Libyan media company Dar Alarab, sponsor of fairs in Tripoli for foreign firms....

During that period, in 2004, Siemens, Germany's largest engineering company, won an order worth 180 million euros ($264 million) to upgrade Libya's power-supply grid after a visit by then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Former U.K. premier Tony Blair visited Libya in May 2007 when BP, Europe's second-biggest oil producer, signed an accord to conduct a $900 million exploration program with Libya's National Oil Corp. ...Toulouse, France-based Airbus SAS at the same time confirmed an order for 15 aircraft from Libyan Airlines. ....

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi agreed to build a $5 billion coastal highway as part of the agreement [settling Italy's colonization of Libya from 1911 to 1943]....

Oil is also financing Libya's sovereign wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority, which has $80 billion to spend, the fund's chairman, Abdulhafid Zlitni, told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper in February.

Libya's central bank last year bought a 4.6 percent stake in UniCredit SpA, Italy's biggest bank.

Libya may increase its stake in Italian oil company Eni to 10 percent from less than 2 percent