Several key Republican US senators vowed Wednesday to block ratification
of the so-called Law of the Sea treaty, which the Bush administration and
major energy companies say would help the US lay claim to huge amounts of oil
and natural gas in the Arctic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere.

The Republican backlash against the treaty, led by Trent Lott of
Mississippi, puts the Senate's GOP leadership in a rare direct confrontation
with a policy the oil and gas industry favors.

Lott said he would block ratification of the treaty because it would
"undermine US sovereignty." It also would force the US to share all oil, gas
and other resources obtained on the Outer Continental Shelf "with the rest of
the world," Lott said. "This is a bad treaty, and it ain't gonna be ratified,"
Lott told reporters Wednesday at the US Capitol.

The American Petroleum Institute and other industry trade groups say the
treaty is needed to ensure US access to unclaimed oil and gas reserves in the
world's oceans. Paul Kelly, who represents API and other trade groups, told a
Senate committee earlier this month that not ratifying the treaty "could
adversely affect US companies' operations offshore other countries, and
negatively affect any opportunity to lay claim to vitally needed natural
resources."

Lott said in an interview that the oil industry is "dead wrong" about the
treaty, and that producers would "rue the day" if measure is adopted. After
being shown a copy of Kelly's Senate testimony, however, Lott said, "I'd like
to hear what they have to say. I'll hear them out."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on the
hearing next week. The Bush administration, like the oil and gas industry,
supports the treaty's ratification.

--Brian Hansen, brian_hansen@platts.com