ABSTRACT
The 1955 Law, in Article 12, stipulated that any concession-holder having surplus pipeline capacity should make it available to others on agreed terms, which were to conform with those normally prevailing in the petroleum industry. The construction of pipelines in the case of Libya comprised, with associated pumping and terminal facilities, a substantial element in the total cost of production of the oil, as well as being one of the heaviest single front-end investment costs involved in field development. The problems of utilisation of gas produced in association with crude oil were common to Libya and other oil-producing countries where the fields were far from inhabited centres which might provide markets. Marketing of oil products in Libya during the 1950s and 1960s was in the hands of three companies — Shell, Esso and Asseil — with approximately equal shares of the market.
