Libya’s oil production has begun to drop as authorities in the country’s eastern region enforced a shutdown, escalating a crisis that the United Nations has warned could lead to economic collapse. The shutdown comes amid a power struggle between the nation’s rival governments over control of the central bank, which manages the country’s vast energy revenues.
Production at the El-Feel oil field in southwestern Libya has ceased, with local operators indicating that they will gradually halt oil pumping nationwide. This move, announced on Monday by the eastern Libyan authorities, was in response to a decision by the internationally recognized government in the west to replace central bank Governor Sadiq Al-Kabir.
Libya has been divided into competing eastern and western governments for a decade, and control of the central bank is crucial as it oversees billions of dollars in revenue. Libya, which holds Africa’s largest oil reserves, had been producing about 1.2 million barrels of crude per day for much of the past year.
Since the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moammar Al Qaddafi, Libya has been plagued by unrest, with its energy resources becoming a key battleground for factions seeking political power. Although a United Nations-backed cease-fire in 2020 was intended to end fighting that began in 2014, promised elections did not take place, and the country fractured once again.
Al-Kabir, who has led the central bank since 2011 and is supported by the east in his long-running feud with Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, has resisted his removal from office. Despite this, a government delegation entered the central bank’s headquarters in Tripoli on Monday to appoint new leadership.
Critics of Al-Kabir accuse him of mismanaging oil revenues. Eastern Libyans argue that they have been historically marginalized and denied a fair share of the wealth generated from national crude production, which is primarily centered in their region.
The UN mission in Libya has warned against “unilateral actions” that could lead to the country’s financial and economic collapse. The UN is convening an emergency meeting with all parties involved to resolve the crisis and is urging the immediate resumption of oil production.
While the western government in Libya enjoys international recognition, its eastern rival is backed by Khalifa Haftar, the leader of the Libyan National Army, which controls large parts of the east and south. Haftar, in his first public comments since the crisis escalated, condemned the move to replace the central bank governor as “illegal measures taken by political parties that lacked legitimacy.”
In an attempt to defuse the crisis, authorities in Tripoli on Tuesday urged the eastern government to rejoin a UN-brokered agreement and work toward holding long-delayed nationwide elections by February 17.
