Libya's Ghani oilfield raided by Islamic State
"There was screaming and shouting - It was chaos" - a soldier from the country's Petroleum Facilities Guard speaks out about the gunmen's murderous raid on the Ghani oilfield
It is fair to say that Libya's Ghani oilfield was never one of the country's output superstars. Tucked away on the edge of the Sirte basin, one of a cluster of five fields operated by Harouge Oil Operations, its production of up to 74,000 barrels a day (b/d) made it a solid performer, rather than a standout. Ghani's name was not banded about at oil conferences, nor did it feature in spectacular bidding wars, and many in the industry had never heard of it. They have heard about it now, though. On 6 March, Islamic State (IS) militants attacked the plant, beheading eight Libyan guards and cap-turing nine foreign hostages. In doing so, they threw Libya's entire oil industry, home to Africa's lar
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
