Libya’s oil industry is crumbling after more than nine years of neglected maintenance amid a civil war, stated Bloomberg.
The lack of basic, nuts-and-bolts servicing has left pipelines corroding and storage tanks collapsing. Remedial work at wells alone could cost more than $100 million, the head of the state-run National Oil Corporation told Bloomberg, and that’s money the government can ill afford.
The damage means that Libya, despite having Africa’s largest crude reserves, will struggle to ramp up production quickly even if the conflict abates soon.
“The longer we wait, the greater the damage and the higher the cost,” NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla said in a written response to questions. “It is a tragedy for the people of Libya that political game-playing has been allowed to cause such damage to our country’s critical national infrastructure.”