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Libya's oil production has dropped to 300,000 barrels per day, less than a quarter of what it produced before the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi, mostly because of insecurity and closed pipelines, a top official said. The North African state is caught in a conflict between two rival governments and their armed allies -- one internationally recognised, and the other a self-declared administration that took over Tripoli last year. Naji Moghrab, the top state oil official with the recognised government, told a local television channel late on Sunday output was at 300,000 bpd because of fighting between various armed factions...

Libya's internationally recognized government said on Tuesday that any sales of the country's oil should be arranged through a state firm based in Benghazi under its leadership to prevent fraud. If implemented, the decision would escalate a battle for control that is raging, four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi, between the official government based in the east and a rival administration in Tripoli. Oil markets have been wondering who is owning Africa's largest oil reserves. But so far customers have continued paying for exports worth hundreds of millions of dollars each month through state National Oil Corp (NOC)...

Protests by the security guards who protect Libya's oil industry and infrastructure shutdowns have sent petroleum exports plunging to levels far below those prior to the 2011 war that toppled dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and the country itself risks a domestic fuel shortage, according to a high-ranking government oil official. Libya is currently exporting between 300,000 and 320,000 barrels daily, a fifth of the 1.6 million barrels it regularly exported before the war, Deputy Oil Minister Omar el-Shakmak told reporters late Tuesday. Exports are down by 50 percent compared to last week. The drop in exports mostly sent to European countries...

“We are currently witnessing the collapse of state in Libya, and the country is getting closer to local wars for oil revenues,” said the Swiss-based group Petromatrix. The country’s oil ministry said production has slumped to an average of 300,000 barrels per day (b/d) in August, down by more than four-fifths from its peak after the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime two years ago. “Militia groups are behaving like terrorists, using control over oil as political leverage to extract concessions,” said Dr Elizabeth Stephens, head of political risk at insurers Jardine Lloyd Thompson. Port closures and strikes have compounded the...

Libya's largest western oilfields closed when an armed group shut down the pipeline linking them to ports, its deputy oil minister said on Tuesday, reducing its oil output to a trickle. ...

Will Egypt seize Libya for its oil? Given Egypt’s political ideology, its history with its neighbors, and its material needs, this must be a live issue. … The Muslim Brotherhood government desperately needs a $4.8-billion IMF bailout to stop the bleeding but it refuses to curtail its subsidies, as the IMF demands, for fear of triggering a popular revolt. It is instead hoping for aid from oil states and the U.S. government, but even if this materializes, it will be at best a stopgap. With tourists, the country’s chief source of foreign exchange, steering clear of Egypt because of its...