Reagan asks study of ban on Europe pipeline sales

President Reagan has ordered a top-level study of the controversy over his ban on sales of US technology and equipment to aid construction of a natural gas pipeline from the Soviet Union to Western Europe, US officials said.

Officials said the National Security Council had been instructed to convene an interagency group, including representatives of the Departments of Defense, State, Treasury, and Commerce, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency. Treasury secretary Donald Regan was named chairman of the group, which is to review the entire range of US relations with NATO allies, in addition to the specific issue of the pipeline.