Ahmad 
Libya ranked first in the list of African countries in terms of proven oil reserves in 2024, reaching about 50 billion barrels, according to a report by the global data analysis platform “Global Firepower”.
This achievement places Libya in ninth place globally in terms of oil reserves, exceeding previous estimates that indicated 48 billion barrels.
Nigeria came in second place with reserves reaching 36.9 billion barrels, followed by Algeria in third place with total reserves of 12.2 billion barrels, then Angola in fourth place with 7.78 billion barrels.
Sudan ranked fifth as the largest country in Africa in terms of oil reserves with five billion barrels, then South Sudan in sixth place with 3.75 billion barrels.
Despite this enormous wealth, the Libyan oil industry suffers from many challenges, as ongoing political unrest and disputes over the sharing of oil revenues hinder the country from fully benefiting from its resources.
According to “OPEC” data, Libya also topped Africa’s oil production in 2023 with 1.189 million barrels per day, slightly ahead of Nigeria.
Despite the relative stability in oil production in 2023, Libya faces difficulties in achieving its future goals of increasing production to 2 million barrels per day within the next three to five years.
These hopes have been severely damaged by repeated shutdowns of oil fields, such as the Sharara field, which produces more than 300,000 barrels per day.
In addition to conventional oil, Libya has huge reserves of shale oil and gas, ranking it fifth in the world in this field, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that Libya’s shale oil reserves may reach 26 billion barrels, which could extend the life of oil production in the country to 112 years.
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