The United States is proposing ways for Libya to manage the flow of oil revenue to help it through a political crisis as two rival prime ministers vie for power, Washington’s ambassador to Tripoli said on Thursday.
Rival factions have argued over who gets to control oil production, sales and revenues for years, fuelling the political chaos and violence that has ravaged Libya since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.
The U.S. proposals aim to stop the crisis spilling over into economic warfare that would deprive Libyans of salaries, subsidised goods and state investment and hit global energy markets, ambassador Richard Norland told Reuters.
Any threat to Libya’s output, which has topped 1.3 million barrels per day in recent months, would hit markets already reeling from the Ukraine crisis.