{
  "id": 1518468,
  "title": "Libya Power Crisis Explodes as Grid Fails Again",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/17/libya-power-crisis-explodes-as-grid-fails-again",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-17T16:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "OilPrice",
    "slug": "oilprice",
    "url": "https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Libya-Power-Crisis-Explodes-as-Grid-Fails-Again.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Libya's electricity grid succumbed to yet another major failure on Monday, plunging power plants offline and disrupting the Great Man-Made River water system, sparking widespread public outrage in a nation already fractured by rival factions. The Zawiya, Khoms, and Ubari power plants succumbed to the outage, leaving large swathes of western and central Libya without electricity. The Libya Herald reported that this was the third significant blackout in western Libya over a two-day span. The source of the simultaneous outages remains unknown. The collapse also affected the water network, as the Great Man-Made River Authority revealed that electricity cuts compelled all pumping stations under its control, including wellfields and the Tarhouna pumping station, to cease operations. The system supplies water to much of Libya's population from underground aquifers deep within the Sahara. Weeks of power outages have sparked demonstrations, road blockades, and closures of government institutions, including protests directed at Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah's Government of National Unity in Tripoli. These public demonstrations are escalating the tensions between the two political camps that have maintained an uneasy equilibrium, each retaining access to state institutions and the country's oil revenues. The United States is attempting to forge a formal political settlement while encouraging U.S. oil companies to expand operations in Libya. However, the deteriorating energy infrastructure is adding pressure to this delicate alliance from the public. Protesters breached the Mellitah oil and gas complex in late July, temporarily disrupting production at the El Feel and Wafa fields and disrupting gas supplies for electricity generation. Recently, drones launched attacks around the Zawiya energy hub, targeting oil infrastructure and causing a major strike that left over 700 MW of the 1,300-MW Zawiya plant inoperable. The National Oil Corporation warned last week that persistent attacks could force a force majeure declaration on exports from Zawiya. Libya currently produces around 1.4 million barrels per day and aims to increase output to 2 million barrels per day by the early 2030s. However, the same oil revenues that have fueled the enrichment of Libya's political factions have yet to trickle down to provide basic, reliable electricity service.",
  "summary": "Libya’s electricity grid suffered another major collapse on Monday, knocking power plants offline across western, central and southern parts of the country, shutting down the Great Man-Made River water system, fueling widespread public anger in a country already divided between rival power centers. The Zawiya, Khoms and Ubari power plants went offline, with large parts of western and central…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}