Protests have erupted across Tripoli, Zawiya, and Misrata as Libya endures daily power outages, a direct consequence of fifteen years of fractured governance and underinvestment following the Nato-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The desperation is palpable; Al Robyan, a popular Tripoli seafood restaurant, recently offered a table of seafood in exchange for “some fuel for the generator,” declaring on Facebook, “We’ve run out of earthly solutions.” Libyans have suffered blackouts lasting between six and ten hours daily throughout the summer.
Alaeddin Muntasser, a retired businessman in Tripoli, described the situation as an “electricity disaster,” noting its widespread impact. He recounted how a water-bottling plant was severely affected, leading to a shortage of drinking water for weeks. Many small restaurants have closed, while others with generators struggle to operate. People have lost all the food in their freezers and fridges due to the prolonged outages.
Libya generates approximately 70 percent of its electricity from natural gas, making its power grid highly vulnerable to disruptions in gas production and pipelines. Hamish Kinnear, an analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, noted the particular frustration for citizens of a country with Africa's largest oil reserves, fifth-largest gas reserves, and significant solar potential.
The Legacy of Western Intervention
The roots of Libya’s current electricity crisis trace back to the chaos unleashed after the Nato-backed uprising fifteen years ago. Since 2011, the country has been split between rival administrations: the internationally recognised government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in the west and forces led by General Khalifa Haftar in the east, backed by foreign governments. Years of underinvestment in the power grid and gas production, combined with this year’s 50C heatwave, have culminated in the present crisis.
Karim Elgendy, executive director of the Carboun Institute, stated that oil wealth only translates into reliable electricity when institutions can convert it, and Libya’s institutions have been fractured for over a decade. He explained that 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, making every summer a stress test the grid isn't ready for.
Regional Dependencies and Israeli Influence
In January of the same year, Egypt and Libya signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen cooperation in the oil and gas sector. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and other Egyptian officials met with senior Libyan officials, including National Oil Corporation chairman Massoud Suleman, in July of the same year to discuss further energy ties. Following Libya’s widespread electricity blackouts throughout July, Tripoli turned to Egypt, which increased its electricity export capacity to Libya by approximately 43 percent, reaching 100 megawatts.
Despite this apparently sharp rise, the additional 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 totaling around $90 million. Elgendy highlighted the real complementarity between the two economies: Libya has hydrocarbons, while Egypt has refining capacity, a generation fleet, and contractors. However, he cautioned that genuine integration requires a long-term commercial framework with reciprocal obligations.
Egypt’s own power system relies heavily on imported gas it doesn't control, and recent supply interruptions demonstrated how quickly that exposure travels down the chain. A country importing electricity from Egypt is, indirectly, importing Egypt’s gas risk. In recent years, Cairo has increasingly turned to Israel, signing a record $35 billion gas deal with Israel in 2025, one year ago. This agreement almost tripled Egypt's gas imports from the Israeli Leviathan gas fields, marking the largest export deal in Israel’s history and solidifying its economic leverage in the region.
Internal Failures and Systemic Corruption
Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya specialist, dismissed the attempts by Libya and Egypt to meet each other’s energy needs as “not to be taken seriously,” describing them as “more of a diplomatic trick than something really genuine.” He noted that Libya possesses abundant natural gas reserves, both onshore and offshore, but has profoundly failed to maintain its natural gas production capacity. Gas still accounts for roughly three-quarters of the country’s electricity output, yet years have passed “with no new natural gas project of any significance even being launched.”
Existing assets have been “shrinking in terms of output,” and even a new project greenlit today would take “at least seven or eight years” to yield results. Harchaoui warned that on current trends, Libya could be “humiliated to the point of having to import natural gas” within a few years, undermining any notion of Libya and Egypt as complementary energy partners.
Harchaoui attributed part of this failure to a “culture of a crude oil-producing country” that doesn't prioritize natural gas, despite its critical role in power generation. Corruption has exacerbated delays, not only by diverting funds but also by slowing decision-making. He alleged that some power plant units installed between 2022 and 2025 were purchased secondhand and fraudulently presented as new. The prime minister's unfulfilled claims since 2021, five years ago, to have “resolved” the crisis have fueled unrest, particularly in the west where protests are easier to organize than under Haftar’s tighter control in the east. Blackouts also affect the east and south, though less visibly and with fewer political repercussions.