After armed militias had attacked three oil fields, the state-owned National Oil Company (NOC) issued a statement informing the public that oil production would be suspended for several days. In these three cases, the militias managed to shut off two pipelines to the refinery and port at Zawya from the al-Sharara and al-Hamada oil fields. The shutdown of the pipelines resulted in the output of oil falling to 360,000 barrels per day (BPD) from one million. Meanwhile, a few days prior, other militants had blocked production at the al-Fil oil field.

Moreover, the attacks on oil fields increased drastically following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime after he was killed on October 20, 2011, in Sirte, Libya. With no leader to fill the void, many armed groups have continued to fight for power. As a result, two competing governments are entangled in a power struggle, with both sides trying to secure a victory by controlling the lucrative oil sector. The oil industry accounts for 70% of the GDP, more than 95% of exports, and 90% of the government’s revenue. In response to the conflict, UN-brokered peace deals have had no significant impact on the country. Thus, with these two governments fighting for their own self-interest rather than for the benefit of the majority, other tribal and religious groups and militias began to form.

As such, although many of these small groups are aware that they do not have any political power, they have noticed that their efforts to destabilize the oil sector is lucrative. In some cases, like with the ISIL branch in Libya, the militants have resorted to kidnapping foreign oil workers with the hope that the host government or their families will pay the ransom. According to Libya’s army spokesman, Ahmed al-Mesmari, “The attackers do not want to control the oil fields, that’s not their aim – it seems their aim is to burn, destroy and steal whatever they can.”

Therefore, with the two governments nowhere close to reaching an agreement, attacks on oil fields, such as the ones that happened recently, will continue. The situation has been further complicated by the fact that the government not backed by the U.S. has asked the Kremlin for help. Nonetheless, hopefully, the regional negotiations with the Arab League will foster long-term peace.