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An Empirical Analysis of Foreign Direct Investment in the Libyan Oil Industry

This study investigates the major factors that have restricted the flow of foreign
direct investment (FDI) into the oil sector in Libya. The study focuses on the
period from 2000 to 2009. This period is significant since, during this time Libya
witnessed dramatic foreign and economic policy changes. The research
objectives are: (1) To identify the determinants of foreign direct investment into
Libya’s oil industry for the period 2000-2009; (2) To reveal the obstacles and
barriers which hinder FDI in Libya’s oil industry; (3) To determine the extent that
the Libyan Government FDI policy influenced FDI in Libya’s oil industry. The
rationale for this thesis was driven by filling an empirical void of FDI studies on
the oil industry in Libya and by the intention of providing practical insights for
current and future Libyan governments.
This study comprises of an analysis of the 30 multinational (MNCs) oil
companies that are operating in the Libyan oil industry through questionnaire
and interview data from executives employed by those MNCs, as well as data
from ten Libyan senior government officials involved in the Libyan oil industry
and/or FDI policies.
The research has provided support for several of the determinants of FDI flows
traditionally found in the literature. The survey and time series analysis further
reveals that access to Libya’s proven oil and gas reserves was the singular
most important determinate for influencing the MNCs to undertake FDI.
Furthermore, the findings identified that Libyan government foreign policy had
some impact on the MNCs decision to undertake FDI. The research findings
with regards to the role played by environmental risk as a determinate of FDI,
demonstrate that there is no significant relationship between overall levels of
environmental risk and a country‘s performance in attracting FDI. Also, this
research has identified a number of factors that are causing obstacles and
challenges to the attractiveness of Libya as a location for foreign investment. It
has revealed that MNCs are significantly dissatisfied by the stability of the public
institutions and the lack of effective regulations in Libya.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/18720
Date January 2008
CreatorsAbushhewa, Tarek
ContributorsBaimbridge, Mark
PublisherUniversity of Bradford, Bradford University School of Management
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis, doctoral, MPhil
Rights<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>.

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