The price of oil, which has been sharply dipping since October and reached unprecedented levels when it recently went down to $51 a barrel, curved upwards in what officials declared was force majeure.
But the ‘act of God’ that Libya’s National Oil Company (NOC) said affected exports from the El Sharara oil fields in the Murzuq desert south west, was because of fundamentalists seizing the fields and not because of interference from above.
It also seems a little convenient that the supply-straining attack on El Sharara should come at a time when Saudi Arabia has failed in its attempts to convince fellow members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to cut output by a million barrels a day, a decision that would drive the price up if it came to pass.
But Russia recently vetoed that proposal at an Opec gathering, prompting Saudi to say that it will look at smaller member countries to aid its endeavours to stop the plunging price.
The help now seems to have the come from the unlikeliest of sources in the shape of divine insurrection.
Before the dust settled over El Sharara, a barrel of Brent crude went up to $60.19.
The NOC has since said that the shutdown of oil fields, Libya’s biggest, will cause a production loss of 315 000 barrels per day (bpd).
It’s also expected to lead to an additional loss of 73 000 bpd at the El Feel oil fields next to El Sharara.