The ground-breaking agreement to unify Libya’s two rival National Oil Companies (NOCs) last week in Ankara, Turkey, is good news for Libyan oil exports on the surface—but the reality is that because certain military factions already control the key oilfields, the deal won’t get off the ground without including them. The July 2 agreement to merge the hostile NOCs was made by the executives of the Tripoli administration, Mustafa Sanalla, and his counterpart from the rival Benghazi administration, Naji Al-Mogheribi. The agreement effectively recognizes the House of Representatives (HoR) as a legislative body for all of Libya, and recognizes the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) as an executive leader. But before speculators start betting on the flooding of the market with more Libyan oil, this agreement—while a major step—still requires approval by the HoR, and this approval is not a given. “We were not even informed about the […]