Both sides in Libya's civil war knew they would need to sell oil again fast once the conflict was over.
So for the most part they took care not to ruin the energy infrastructure. For example, while fierce fighting was devastating the western town of Zawiya, the large oil refinery to its north lay idle but untouched by war, its workers still able to have lunch in the canteen.
By mid-2012, less than a year after Moammar Gadhafi's demise, Libya's oil production, which was almost halted during half a year of ferocious fighting, had regained its prewar level of about 1.5 million barrels a day — years earlier than expected. Proudly, Libya's new leaders said output could soon rise to 2 million barrels or more. The oil minister, Abdelbari Arusi, promised a new hydrocarbons law and an auction of leases for unexplored territory to foreign oil companies.
Libya's oil reserves, at 47 billion barrels, already Africa's biggest, could — it was said — increase by another 10 billion.
But Libya's political chaos is, alas, spreading to the oil industry. Workers and militias now often disrupt production at energy installations, forcing the government to give them money before they will switch the valves back on.
In late May protesters shut down the Feel oil field in Libya's southwest. Tobruk, Ras Lanuf, Zueitina and other ports from which oil is exported also have been afflicted. Arusi said recently that protesters had cost his country $1 billion in lost oil revenue.
If only the government had offered decent jobs to disaffected locals and former fighters last year, things might be better today. Now the government may have to resort to force to stop the rot, which could create even worse chaos. The government is still struggling to bring an array of unruly militias to heel.
Oil people say bureaucracy is stifling recovery, as decisions get shuffled between the state-controlled National Oil Co. (NOC), the oil ministry, and Ali Zeidan, the prime minister.