Cast your minds back a couple of weeks. The headlines about John Browne's resignation from BP were everywhere. The scandal was broken. What, exactly, the scandal was supposed to be escaped us (while we don't condone lying under oath, it was hardly the stuff of a criminal mind).

One of the allegations, or discoveries, was that Browne had twice been to Libya to visit Colonel Gadaffi with security guards in tow. We pointed out that Libya has oil. And, historically, hasn't been the most stable of nations. So the revelation was nothing more than common sense to us.

We wonder if today's news that BP has announced a $900m gas exploration deal with Libya will satisfy any remaining curioristy over Browne's visits to the country...