Libya’s Oil Politics: The Hidden Power Struggles Behind Farhat Bengdara’s Resignation

BY: Dr. Hana Saada

Algiers, Algeria | January 18th, 2025 — The Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced on Thursday that Abdulhamid Dbeibah, the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, had accepted the resignation of Farhat Bengdara, the NOC Chairman, citing urgent health issues as the reason behind his inability to fulfill his duties effectively.

While the resignation itself may not have come as a surprise, its timing has raised significant questions. This development coincided with Dbeibah’s directive to evacuate Libyan personnel from the Hamada Red oilfields and hand over operations to Turkish companies. This move, reportedly part of a clandestine agreement between Dbeibah and Ankara, has sparked speculation about ulterior motives tied to Libya’s lucrative oil resources.

Sources revealed that the seeds of this conflict were sown last year. In July 2023, Bengdara met with Erika Mandrafino, External Communications Director at Italy’s Eni, where they negotiated granting Eni operational rights in the Ghadames Basin, the Sharara oilfield, and the Hamada Red region. Subsequently, leaked communications between Eni’s assistant communications director, Giovanna Francesco, and NOC board member Masoud Suleiman Musa shed light on a scheduled meeting between Bengdara and Mandrafino in Rome.

Following the agreement, Eni’s regional director, Martina Opezi, announced in September 2023 that Libya remained a strategic hub for Eni’s upstream activities, with plans to begin exploration in the Ghadames Basin by 2024. However, Turkey’s ambitions for Libya’s energy sector soon disrupted these plans.

Turkish energy firms have aggressively pursued exclusive contracts for the Hamada oilfield. Experts suggest that Turkey successfully sidelined Italy by striking a deal with Dbeibah, described as “oil for power,” wherein Turkish support for Dbeibah’s political longevity is exchanged for control over Libyan oil assets.

Economic and political analyst Ahmed Khaldoun argues that Bengdara’s resignation is directly linked to this intensifying power struggle between Ankara and Rome. Khaldoun noted that Bengdara’s refusal to cede control of Libya’s oilfields to Turkish interests, favoring Italian partnerships instead, was a key factor in his departure. Khaldoun likened this scenario to the earlier dismissal of Libya’s oil minister, Mohamed Aoun, who was removed under ambiguous circumstances that later surfaced as resistance to foreign exploitation of national oilfields.

Khaldoun asserts that Dbeibah’s actions reflect a calculated effort to secure his grip on power by eliminating dissenting voices within Libya’s oil sector. By aligning himself with foreign powers like Turkey, Dbeibah seeks to consolidate authority while sidelining rivals and prioritizing external alliances over Libya’s sovereignty.

Translated from:

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