Oilibya

OiLibya, also known as Libya Oil Kenya Limited, Libya Oil Holdings and previously known as Tamoil Africa. The Libyan state-owned company has over 3000 branches in 21 countries across Africa [Libya, Egypt, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Eritrea, Uganda, Nigeria, Mauritius, Ile de Réunion, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Djibouti]. OiLibya is managed by the Libyan Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund that manages Libya’s assets in other countries.

Expansion & oil exploration

In 2008 OiLibya entered the Ethiopian market acquiring 100% of Shell's Ethiopia and Djibouti petroleum retail business, Shell’s Ethiopia official Bahru Temesgen confirmed to Reuters. He declined to reveal the amount of money OiLibya, owned by Libyan holding company Libyan African Portfolio (LAP) Greenco, paid. Oilibya has bought many other retail petroleum dealers in Africa, including taking over ExxonMobil's business in Kenya.

Bahru said at the time the sale was consistent with Shell's global strategy to focus on oil exploration and get out of retail business. ^[1]

As well as operating retail outlets in Africa, the state-owned OiLibya, previously called Tamoil Africa, proposed plans to build two pipelines on the continent, one between Kenya and Uganda and another to supply five countries with oil products from a Ugandan refinery.

With the largest oil reserve in Africa within in its territories, Libya expanded exploration with the support of international companies, including BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni after the US ended almost two decades of sanctions in 2004. ^{[2] [3]}

OiLibya is managed by the Libyan Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund that manages Libya’s assets in other countries, including Libya Oil Holding and Tamoil, which owns three refineries in Europe and more than 3,000 filling stations on the continent.

2011 Libyan uprising

In February 2011 some African countries began to express concerns as to how the uprising in Libya might affect OiLibya and its outlets across the region. Of particular concern were the huge debts racked up by Libya's key enterprises, largely taken on in with the assurance that Gaddafi was always at hand to bail them out every time they ran short of cash. ^{[4] [5]}

See Also

Libya Oil Holdings ^[6]

References

1. ^ Reuters-OiLibya buys Shell's Ethiopia, Djibouti operations, retrieved July 15, 2008.
2. ^ Bloomberg-Libya's National Oil to Focus on Domestic Output, Ghanem Says, retrieved June 4, 2008.
3. ^ Abbaymedia-OiLibya Starts Pumping Oil in Ethiopia, retrieved December 13, 2008.
4. ^ The East African/All Africa Global Media-EAC, Comesa Businesses On Knife-Edge As Gaddafi's Regime Shakes, retrieved February 28, 2011.
5. ^ The East African-EAC, Comesa Businesses On Knife-Edge As Gaddafi's Regime Shakes, retrieved February 28, 2011.
6. ^ http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/libya-stake-in-circle-oil-frozen-as-eu-turns-screw-on-gaddafi-2576731.html