Libya power cuts and fuel shortages disrupt daily life

Long power cuts and severe fuel shortages are disrupting daily life in Libya, where many residents are struggling to keep homes, shops and cars running during summer heat.

Temperatures are approaching 50C in parts of the country. In Tripoli, shop owner Slimane Fitouri said outages had broken two refrigerators and spoiled dairy products at his grocery store. Other residents said generator prices had risen and fuel to run them was hard to find.

Motorists have formed kilometre-long lines at petrol stations in western and central Libya. Abdeslam Zarti said queues can take six hours or more and sometimes stretch four kilometres.

Libya holds about 48 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and produces roughly 1.5 million barrels a day. It wants to raise output to 2 million barrels a day, but produces only about a third of the fuel it needs for domestic use. Last year it imported $7.8 billion worth of fuel, according to the National Oil Corporation.

Experts and United Nations officials have linked the crisis to corruption, weak governance, institutional fragmentation and years of inadequate maintenance at power plants. International relations researcher Bechir Jouini also cited fuel smuggling, failed maintenance programmes and mismanagement of energy budgets.

Libya has been divided for more than a decade, with a UN-recognised government in Tripoli and a rival administration in Benghazi backed by military leader Khalifa Haftar. Earlier this month, a key reservoir containing about 4.5 million litres of petrol was targeted by several drone attacks in Zawiya, west of Tripoli.