Since mid-April this year, key oil fields and ports have been closed due to protests stemming from a political crisis that has rival factions trying to secure control of oil facilities and oil revenues.
Before that, Libya produced about 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day. Today, the country produces about 85% less, although exact figures are hard to come by, with the Ministry of Petroleum and the National Oil Company (NOC) not cooperating with figures.
Libya’s Tripoli-based Central Bank says the country officially lost $3.5 billion in the first half of this year due to the shutdown of oil fields as deadly protests erupt to challenge the political stalemate.
In the first half of 2022, Libya collected 37.3 billion dinars from oil sales. This amount reflects 100 million dinars less in oil sales compared to the first five months of last year.
Negotiations between rival factions, east and west, continue in both Cairo and Geneva, with no agreement on a framework that would make it possible to hold free and fair elections.
A key issue is the control of oil production and revenue.
The impasse recently prompted United Nations and US officials to propose that Libya’s oil revenues be managed by third-party custodians to ensure a fair distribution and end the impasse.
UN Libya Adviser Stephanie Williams last week called for an interim mechanism to manage oil revenue, saying that with it, the power struggle could go on indefinitely. Such a move would effectively mean appointing a foreign administrator to oversee Libya’s oil wealth.
US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland also proposed a trusteeship of Libya’s oil revenues.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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