A Tripoli seafood restaurant offered a table laden with fish in exchange for generator fuel earlier this month, a desperate plea that drew thousands of responses and underscored the depths of Libya's electricity disaster. Libyans across the country have endured almost daily power outages lasting between six and 10 hours over the summer, a crisis that's shut down water-bottling plants, forced small restaurants to close, and left residents watching food spoil in their fridges.
The blackouts have sparked protests in Tripoli, Zawiya, Misrata and elsewhere. Al Robyan restaurant's Facebook post — "We've run out of earthly solutions" — became a dark joke, with some noting the fuel would cost more than the seafood on offer. But the humor masks a reality that reveals what happens when a country rich in resources lacks the governance to convert them into basic services.
The Resource Paradox
Libya sits on the largest oil reserves and the fifth largest gas reserves in Africa, with significant solar power potential. Yet it can't keep the lights on. Alaeddin Muntasser, a retired businessman in Tripoli, told Middle East Eye, "Since these massive shortages started, every business in Libya has been affected." He described it as an "electricity disaster," pointing to one water-bottling plant severely affected by the blackouts. "We had a shortage of drinking water for a couple of weeks. If they can't pump or filter, they can't bottle," he said. "Many small restaurants have shut down; a few who can afford to have a generator to run their ovens managed to open."
Libya generates roughly 70 percent of its electricity from natural gas, leaving the power grid highly exposed to falling gas production and disruptions at fields and pipelines. Oil accounts for almost all the remainder. Hamish Kinnear, principal Middle East and North Africa analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said, "The electricity crisis and related protests is one of those problems that will not go away until Libya's government can implement a longer-term strategy that ensures a more reliable electricity supply, whether that be through refined fuels or renewable energy sources." He noted that for citizens of a country with such vast energy reserves, "blackouts are a particular source of frustration."
Fifteen Years of Institutional Collapse
The roots of Libya's current electricity crisis go back years. The country hasn't recovered since it plunged into chaos after a Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi fifteen years ago. Since then, the country has split, with rival administrations in the west headed by the internationally recognised government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and in the east backed by forces led by General Khalifa Haftar and foreign governments. Years of underinvestment in the power grid and gas production, combined with this year's heatwave, in which temperatures hit 50C, have all come to a head.
Karim Elgendy, executive director of the Carboun Institute, said, "Oil wealth only becomes reliable electricity when institutions can convert it, and Libya's institutions have been fractured for over a decade." He added, "Rival authorities issue competing decisions over the same grid and the utility recovers almost none of its costs. Years of deferred maintenance have left the network running on ageing equipment with no margin for error. So every summer becomes a stress test the grid isn't ready for."
Egypt's Limited Lifeline
Following Libya's electricity blackouts throughout July, Tripoli turned in part to Egypt, which boosted electricity export capacity to Libya by approximately 43 percent, reaching 100 megawatts. Despite the apparently sharp rise, the extra supply met only a fraction of Libya's electricity needs, covering less than a tenth of its recent generation shortfall. Libya also settled outstanding dues to Egypt totalling around $90m.
In the same year, Egypt and Libya signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen cooperation in the oil and gas sector. In July, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and other Egyptian officials met with senior Libyan officials, including National Oil Corporation chairman Massoud Suleman, to discuss deepening energy ties between the two sides.
Elgendy said, "The complementarity between the two economies is real: Libya has the hydrocarbons, Egypt has the refining, the generation fleet and the contractors." But he added, "Genuine integration begins when both sides commit to a long-term commercial framework with obligations running both ways." He also noted, "Egypt's own power system leans heavily on imported gas it doesn't control, and recent supply interruptions showed how quickly that exposure travels down the chain. A country importing electricity from Egypt is, indirectly, importing Egypt's gas risk." In recent years, Egypt has had to turn to Israel. Cairo signed a record $35bn gas deal with Israel one year ago, almost tripling its gas imports from the Israeli Leviathan gas fields and marking the largest export deal in Israel's history.
Cultural and Corruption Barriers
Jalel Harchaoui, Libya specialist with the Royal United Services Institute, said the attempts by Libya and Egypt to look to meet each other's energy needs were "not to be taken seriously." He described it as "more of a diplomatic trick than something really genuine, especially during a summer when Libya itself is grappling with a very serious electricity crisis."
Harchaoui said Libya sits on abundant natural gas reserves both onshore and offshore, "but the error that Libya made, and it's a profound error with long-time consequences, is that it hasn't kept up in terms of natural gas production capacity." Gas still accounts for roughly three-quarters of the country's electricity output, yet years have gone by "with no new natural gas project of any significance even being launched." He said existing assets had been "shrinking in terms of output," and even a new project greenlit today would take "at least seven or eight years" before producing results. On current trends, he warned, Libya could within a few years be "humiliated to the point of having to import natural gas," a reversal that would undercut any framing of Libya and Egypt as complementary energy partners.
Harchaoui said part of the failure was cultural as much as technical. Libya operates with "the culture of a crude oil-producing country" that "just doesn't think in terms of natural gas" as a priority, even though gas, not oil, is what actually keeps the lights on. He said corruption had compounded the delay, not only by diverting money but by slowing decision-making itself. "To do a corrupt project, you need more time than to do an honest project, because you have to make sure all the key officials are satisfied with their bribes," he said, alleging that some power plant units installed between 2022 and the same year were purchased secondhand and passed off as new.
He also pointed to years of unfulfilled promises by the country's prime minister, who has claimed since five years ago to have "resolved" the crisis, as one reason unrest has concentrated in the west, where protest is easier to organize than under Haftar's tighter grip in the east. He said blackouts were hitting the east and south too, just less visibly and without the same political cost.
Why This Matters:
Libya's electricity crisis isn't just a technical failure — it's a case study in what happens when state institutions collapse and governance becomes a contest between rival fiefdoms. A country sitting on Africa's largest oil reserves and fifth largest gas reserves can't keep the lights on because competing authorities issue contradictory orders, corruption slows every decision, and no one's held accountable for broken promises. The crisis exposes the limits of resource wealth without functional institutions to convert it into public services. It also reveals the fragility of regional energy partnerships when both sides are importing their own vulnerabilities: Egypt's reliance on imported gas means Libya is indirectly importing Egypt's supply risks. Without serious governance reform and a shift from oil culture to gas infrastructure investment, Libya faces the humiliation of importing natural gas within a few years — a reversal that would complete its transformation from energy exporter to failed state dependent on neighbors who can barely meet their own needs. Every summer will be another stress test the grid isn't ready for, and every blackout will deepen public frustration with leaders who've promised solutions for five years without delivering.