Libya¡¯s political crisis is threatening to return the OPEC member¡¯s oil production to the chaos that plagued it for years after the toppling of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
The North African nation¡¯s crude output was slashed in half last week as authorities in the east shuttered more than 500,000 barrels a day amid a fight with the Tripoli-based government for control of the central bank. All the nation¡¯s eastern export terminals closed on Thursday.
The disruption could swell to 1 million barrels a day, according to consultants Rapidan Energy Group. That would amount to roughly 1% of global supply. It would also mark a major fracturing of a 2021 political arrangement brokered by the United Nations to reconcile the two rival camps.
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