Drone Strike on Libya's Largest Oil Refinery Worsens Energy Precarity

A drone strike has hit Libya's Zawiya refinery, the country's largest processing facility, disrupting fuel output at a moment when Libya's energy infrastructure is already severely strained by years of conflict and institutional dysfunction. Libya nominally holds Africa's largest proven oil reserves, yet a large share of its population experiences persistent fuel shortages and power outages — a paradox of resource wealth and governance failure that this attack intensifies.

The strike exposes the vulnerability of centralised energy infrastructure in a country with no effective unified security apparatus. Libya's split between the Tripoli-based GNU and eastern authorities means neither government has full control over protection of critical facilities, and neither is held accountable when they fail. Reconstruction of damaged refinery capacity requires investment that international energy companies are unwilling to commit without security guarantees that no Libyan actor can currently provide.

The immediate risk is a domestic fuel price spike and power cuts, which fall hardest on lower-income households that cannot afford private generator fuel — the standard coping mechanism for wealthier Libyans. Watch whether the strike triggers another round of oil field shutdowns by armed factions using energy infrastructure as political leverage, a pattern that has repeatedly choked Libyan oil revenue and the public services it theoretically funds.