Libya's meddling militias
Violence and political disputes are preventing Libya's oil production settling back to pre-conflict levels
The chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mustafa Sanallah, has called for criminal charges against militias blocking oil infrastructure, with a series of armed seizures threatening to derail his production recovery plan. Sanallah has earned plaudits for hiking production up to near 1m barrels a day, a four-fold increase in a year, in the teeth of civil war and chaos. But his plan to hit 1.25m b/d by the end of 2017, short of the pre-war 1.6m b/d figure, risks being derailed by Libya's ubiquitous militias as well as lack of investment. Sanallah made his call for prosecutions after the militia guarding the largest field, Sharara, shut it down on 30 September demanding back-wages
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






