Libya Bound

North African countries currently rank among the cheapest places in the world to buy gasoline, according to international price data published in late April 2026. The global average pump price for gasoline stood at around $1.49 per liter, while several North African producers were charging less than half that level. Libya, Algeria and Egypt all sit among the most affordable markets globally — though two non-African countries, Venezuela and Iran, rank between Libya and the rest of the African group in the worldwide table.

Since March 3, 2026, the Russian LNG tanker Arctic Metagaz, 277 meters long, has been drifting off the Libyan coast. Loaded with 62,000 tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG), 900 tons of diesel, and 450 tons of heavy fuel oil, it poses the risk of an environmental disaster for the Mediterranean basin. Amid repeated failures to tow the vessel, accusations of Ukrainian sabotage, and the powerlessness of Libyan authorities, the Mediterranean is on high alert.

Three soldiers loyal to Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar were killed and several others captured in coordinated attacks on border posts near Niger, underscoring how southern Libya has become a key fault line in the country’s fractured security landscape. Fighters claiming to represent “revolutionaries of the South” say they are targeting Haftar’s forces over dire living conditions and alleged resource plunder, as cross-border armed groups test the limits of state control from Al-Tum to the Salvador Pass.