• Libya has restarted gasoline production at the Al-Sarir refinery after nearly three years of shutdown.
• The facility can process about 10,000 barrels of crude per day.
• Authorities aim to expand national refining capacity to 660,000 barrels per day.

Gasoline production has resumed at Libya’s Al-Sarir refinery in the country’s east after nearly three years of inactivity. The restart was announced by the National Oil Corporation (NOC) in a statement released March 5.

According to Libya’s state oil company, technical teams delivered the first gasoline cargo to the site’s storage tanks the previous day. The operation marks the effective restart of the facility and the return of fuel production after a prolonged suspension.

The NOC said the development should strengthen domestic fuel supply and help meet part of Libya’s national gasoline demand while improving the stability of fuel distribution operations.

Libyan oil authorities present the restart as a step in reviving operations at the Al-Sarir refinery, which is operated by Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO), a subsidiary of the NOC.

According to data compiled by The Global Economy and updated in 2024 using international energy statistics, gasoline demand in Libya reached about 111,000 barrels per day in 2023, compared with nearly 108,000 barrels per day in 2022. The demand is largely driven by road transport, which remains the main outlet for gasoline consumption in the country.

Al-Sarir is Libya’s fifth-largest refinery by capacity and can process about 10,000 barrels per day. Production was officially restored in early February. The NOC is also planning to raise Libya’s total refining capacity to 660,000 barrels per day, up from about 380,000 barrels per day currently.

Abdel-Latif Boureima