The fragile, implicitly understood arrangment that has kept Libya’s oil revenue flowing – and by extension, the country somewhat stitched together – is at risk of completely collapsing. Historically, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) sold oil. The proceeds of those sales were deposited in the Tripoli government’s dollar-denominated account. But that arrangement is finally starting to unravel, the result of years of backroom wheeling and dealing to undermine the NOC’s monopoly on oil exports and the Libyan Central Bank’s (CBL) control of oil revenue.
Since his resignation in January 2025, former NOC boss Farhat Bengdara has been quietly (but clumsily) approaching international traders to independently sell Libyan crude cargos, sidestepping the NOC and Libya’s historic financial institutions. Worse, Bengdara is in cahoots with a Libyan suspected of violating international arms embargos.
Bengdara’s effort to sell Libyan crude independent of the NOC is not all that surprising.
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