Libya's unending oil war

As the latest battle in the Sirte basin shows, Libya's output recovery remains hostage to the country's politics

Following the recapture after 11 days of fighting of Libya's largest oil-export terminal, Es-Sider, and its third largest, Ras Lanuf, by forces allied to the Tobruk government, oil officials have begun sorting out how much of the country's oil-recovery plan remains intact. That plan, published in November on the website of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), the state firm, envisions war-battered production rising to 0.8m barrels a day by end-2017, generating revenues of $15.84bn. That plan, drawn up by NOC chairman Mustafa Sanallah, only came after Khalifa Hafter's Libyan National Army (LNA) captured the prolific central Sirte basin last September, ending a two-year militia blockade that ha