Italian Nova News Agency: Why Italy Is Making Libya a Top Oil Priority — Here Are the Details

Italy’s Nova news agency reported on Thursday that four out of every ten barrels of Libyan oil reach Italy. During the first nine months of 2026, Italy purchased the equivalent of 494,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Libya, accounting for 41% of Libya’s seaborne oil exports, according to a report by the Energy Research Unit of the specialist Ataqa platform. The report indicates that Rome remains the largest importer of Libyan oil, ahead of Spain, Greece, and France.

According to Nova, these figures underscore Libya’s importance to Italy’s energy security at a time when the war in the Middle East and difficulties navigating the Strait of Hormuz are disrupting international crude oil transportation routes. The relationship is reciprocal: according to data from the Energy for Mobility Union (UNEM), Libya was Italy’s leading oil supplier in 2025, accounting for approximately…

The Italian agency noted that Libyan oil is particularly attractive not only because of its geographical proximity, which allows it to reach Italian refineries in relatively short periods, but also because of its quality. A large proportion of Libya’s output consists of light crude oil, commonly known as “sweet crude,” meaning it has a low sulfur content. Unlike heavy crude, which contains more impurities, sweet crude generally requires less complex and less costly processing to produce fuels. This results in substantial yields of high-quality products such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Some of Libya’s highest-quality crude grades, including those extracted from the Sharara and Sidra fields, have particularly low sulfur content, at approximately 0.07% and 0.44%, respectively.

The agency added that the combination of crude quality and geographical proximity has strengthened integration between Libya’s oil industry and Italy’s refining sector over the years. Moreover, purchasing crude oil from the southern Mediterranean coast provides access to shorter maritime routes than those connecting Italy with producers in the Arabian Gulf and other distant regions. This reduces transportation costs and exposure to risks affecting strategic chokepoints in global trade. Libya is therefore an important supplier not only in terms of volume but also because its crude oil is particularly suitable for fuel production.

According to the Energy Research Unit’s report, Libya’s seaborne crude oil exports averaged approximately 1.19 million barrels per day during the first nine months of 2026, remaining relatively stable compared with the 1.20 million barrels per day recorded during the same period in 2025.

Italy accounted for a significantly larger share than any other major importing country. Spain imported an average of 130,000 barrels per day, Greece 90,000, and France 57,000. Combined, the four European countries purchased 771,000 barrels per day, representing approximately 65% of Libya’s exports.

The concentration of sales in Europe confirms the continued importance of the Mediterranean market to Tripoli’s oil revenues, despite recent efforts to expand into other African markets, including Nigeria and Egypt, and particularly South Africa. South Africa imported nearly one million barrels of Libyan crude oil in September alone, an unusual transaction: according to the Energy Research Unit, it was only the second recorded shipment of its kind since 2013.

This highlights how tensions in the Middle East and supply difficulties in the Arabian Gulf are opening up new commercial opportunities. Nevertheless, the strong energy relationship between Italy and Libya remains vulnerable to political instability and recurring disruptions to oil production.

One example occurred in September, when the forced closure of Valve No. 7 on the Sharara–Zawiya pipeline, which connects one of the country’s most important oil fields to the Mediterranean coast, caused substantial production losses.

According to the National Oil Corporation (NOC), more than 720,000 barrels of oil were lost in the four days following the valve’s closure on September 21 alone, resulting in economic losses exceeding $75 million. The valve was reopened on September 26, allowing flows to resume gradually.

Overall, Libyan oil production averaged 1.341 million barrels per day in September, down 4% from August. Despite this decline, oil revenues transferred to the account at the Libyan Foreign Bank increased by 12.1%, reaching $2.863 billion, compared with $2.555 billion the previous month.

These figures underscore the sector’s economic importance while also highlighting its vulnerability to domestic tensions.

For Italy, Libya’s largest buyer of crude oil and a key destination for investments by Eni, the stability of Libyan oil supplies is therefore of direct strategic importance, particularly at a time of growing uncertainty in international energy markets.