Chaos the new normal for Libya’s oil sector

Hopes for a recovery by the North African oil producer remain in tatters

International confidence in Libya’s oil sector has plummeted following a month-long blockade by one of the country’s two rival governments. The eastern government in Benghazi ordered the blockade of ports and fields in late August to protest against the firing of the chairman of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Sadiq al-Kabir, by the western government in Tripoli. This blockade was a civilised affair, completed not by militias storming oil installations but by phone calls from the army of Khalifa Haftar, a powerful warlord allied to the eastern government. Within days, oil production fell from 1.2m b/d to approximately 0.5m b/d. It lasted until 1 October, when UN mediators secured agreement