Libya鈥檚 political unrest stifles oil investment
Talks this week involving Libyan leaders and oil refining corporations that will see contracts worth about $50 billion given out in order to grow that country鈥檚 fossil fuel sector are set to begin with a whimper, as interest in Libya鈥檚 oil continues to decline among wary investors.
More than a year following the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi as leader of Libya, oil production has returned to pre-civil war levels, but a variety of factors are combining to keep investors away from the OPEC nation, a fact that is only contributing to the continued unrest of the country鈥檚 people.
Exemplified by the many protests and strikes that plague oil extraction and refineries around the region, the military air that remains in Libya can be found in the attitudes of many of its people, most of whom are still recovering from their own personal losses during the country鈥檚 civil war in 2011.聽(Read More:聽)
All of that unrest has translated into investors who are very reluctant to bet their funds on the nation鈥檚 chances at sustaining and growing its oil production market, leaving the future of Libya鈥檚 oil up in the air.聽
鈥淭he political instability and security problems make it less attractive for the international oil companies and for the traders as well,鈥� said Charles Gurdon, managing director of political risk consulting group Menas Associates.(Read More:聽)
Adding to the obvious instability is the fact that Libya鈥檚 sweet, high-quality crude is falling in popularity among the world鈥檚 refineries, with several European plants that focused on refining sweet crude closing down over the past year as the market looks towards the cleaner sour crude produced in other parts of the world.
With firms from France, Italy, Spain, the United States, and other countries all vying for a piece of Libyan oil reserves on the cheap, this week鈥檚 talks could prove to be entirely unsuccessful in plotting the course of a currently directionless market in a part of the world that cannot afford to lose interest in its most commercially successful export.
厂辞耻谤肠别:听
