Let Freedom: Political News, Un-Biased, Lex Fridman, Joe Rogan, CNN, Fox News Libya's $20B Fuel Smuggling Crisis Exposed
Nov 13, 2025
A major investigation reveals Libya lost $20 billion to state-linked fuel smuggling from 2022 to 2024. Corrupt officials and armed groups collaborated to divert subsidized fuel, creating severe shortages and inflation for citizens. The scheme undermines state stability and erodes public trust. This crisis illustrates how weak governance enables large-scale theft. Calls for international sanctions and reforms highlight the urgent need to tackle this systemic corruption and its repercussions on national security and economy.
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Massive State-Linked Resource Drain
- Libya lost roughly $20 billion between 2022 and 2024 as subsidized fuel was siphoned and smuggled abroad.
- The scale shows systemic theft rather than isolated corruption, with state-linked actors profiting while citizens face shortages.
Import Spike Exposed Diversion
- Fuel imports more than doubled while domestic consumption stayed flat, revealing diversion.
- Smugglers used swaps, trucks, vessels and road pipelines to export subsidized product to neighbors and conflict zones.
Crude-For-Fuel Swaps Fueled The Scheme
- The National Oil Corporation ran crude-for-fuel swaps that bypassed normal accounting.
- Those swaps enabled massive volumes to exit Libya and produced an estimated $6.7 billion smuggled in 2024 alone.