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OiLibya, is the brand name used by the affiliates owned by 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.
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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.
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 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.
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 civil war
In February 2011 some African countries began to express concerns as to how the 2011 Libyan civil war 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 the Libyan government was always at hand to bail them out every time they ran short of cash.
A recent announcement from the company said the company aims 900,000 barrel per day in the next year. Oil production has fallen from 1.6 million barrel per day to 900,000 in four years of war.