This chapter explores the reasons behind the increase in fuel importing in Libya, including the implementation of the Crude for Fuel Swap program and the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It also discusses the longstanding issue of fuel smuggling in Libya and its impact on the global market.
In September 2022, a tanker called the Queen Majeda was stopped by authorities in Albanian waters, stuffed to the gills with $2 million worth of marine gas oil. The ship was coming from Libya’s port of Benghazi. And according to the Albanian authorities, the oil they were carrying was being smuggled out of the country illegally.
The Queen Majeda was just the tip of the iceberg of Libya’s $5 billion fuel-smuggling problem, Bloomberg’s senior global business reporter K. Oanh Ha discovered. She learned from the head of Libya's audit bureau that as much as 40% of the fuel imported to Libya under a subsidy program in 2022 was smuggled out. And by tracking shipping data, Ha found that a lot of the fuel exiting through illicit trade originally came from Russia. The fuel then made its way from Libya into European countries that have banned Russian fuel imports.
In today’s episode, Ha unravels the mystery of the Queen Majeda – and reveals how Russian fuel flows through Libya to dodge European sanctions.
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