Chevron in Libya
Libya is among the World’s largest oil economies with approximately 3.5% of global oil reserves, more than twice those of the US. With 46.5 billion barrels of proven reserves, Libya represents 3.34 % of the world’s proven reserves. In contrast, US proven oil reserves are of 20.6 billion barrels (December 2008) according to the Energy Information Administration.
The invasion of Libya under a humanitarian mandate served the same corporate interests as the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq. The underlying objective was to take possession of Libya’s oil reserves and destabilize Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) and eventually privatize the country’s oil industry, namely transfer the control and ownership of Libya’s oil wealth into foreign hands. The Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) is ranked 25 among the world’s Top 100 Oil Companies.
Private companies were allowed into the country, and one of them was Chevron with a five-year license to explore in search for oil and natural gas.
The company arrived on a wave of optimism that they would make big finds in Libya, which is home to Africa's largest proven oil reserves but was relatively under-explored. However, the reality did not meet their expectations. Discoveries were modest while the energy company also had to deal with a political and regulatory environment which could be unpredictable.
Chevron was awarded interests in nine exploration blocks in the 2005 licensing round, but did not report any major finds which led the company to leave the country in 2010 since staying would only cause more expenses besides the costs of renewing their license with Libya.