Libya oil port shutdown drags on
A swift resolution to the blockade looks unlikely as fighting continues in Tripoli and the UN searches for a new mediator
Economic losses from the eight-week shutdown of Libya’s oil ports have passed $3bn and, with fighting raging in Tripoli and the resignation of the UN’s top mediator, the impasse looks likely to persist. Five eastern ports and three key south-western oil fields were shut on 17 January on the orders of general Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), which is backed by both the eastern government in Tobruk and local tribal leaders. The shutdown was in response to Ankara deploying Turkish troops and Syrian mercenaries to aid Tripoli’s Government of National Accord (GNA), which is defending the capital from an 11-month offensive by Haftar’s forces. Crude production reported by Libya’s sta
Also in this section
14 May 2024
But there is still plenty of appetite for the country’s LNG in the Asia-Pacific region
14 May 2024
The former CEO of Pioneer, Scott Sheffield, has opened a can of worms through his association with OPEC+ and its market management strategy
13 May 2024
OPEC+ has huge amounts of spare capacity amid a tightening market, but nothing can be taken for granted given unclear economic trajectories and geopolitical unrest
13 May 2024
But optimism about island nation checked by competition around African upstream investment and history of false dawns