During 1979 and the early part of 1980 the Government of Libya was engaged in a review of the state of social and economic development of the country with a view to preparing a long-range strategy to the year 2000. The exercise involved assessment of the position in 1979 and examination of alternative courses of economic change for the country as a whole and for its constituent regions. While this was far from being a first essay in economic and social planning, it represented a new time horizon (twenty rather than five years) and a rather different approach from previous proposals. In particular, it had become apparent from 1980 that Libyan oil reserves, when set against probable production to reserves ratios for the 1980-2000 period, would be fast depleting by the turn of the century. The last two decades of the twentieth century could be the last years in which Libya could lay the basis for economic survival while still comparatively wealthy from the proceeds of bulk oil exports.

This short article will set out to discuss the resource base of the al Khalij area which was the source of the largest part of Libyan crude oil and natural gas supply and which might be expected to be the region on which Libyan prosperity might be founded in the post-oil era.