A fractured oil sector

Years of civil war and terror have severely damaged Libya's energy capability. A recovery faces many hurdles

The unification announced in July of Libya's rival National Oil Corporations (NOCs), one in Tripoli, the other in Tobruk, should allow for a significant rise in Libyan production. That was the idea, anyway. The catch is that for now any decision to lift output rests not with the leaders of Libya's oil sector, its embattled NOC, or even their sponsoring rival governments, but with warring militias who control ports and fields. The problem became plain in late July when Ibrahim Jadhran, head of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) that controls four key central oil ports, demanded a cash settlement to re-open them. The demand, and perceived encouragement from Martin Kobler, envoy of the UN's S