What happened

Islamic State fighters launched a coordinated, multi-day assault on Libya's Oil Crescent, using suicide vehicle bombs, armed convoys and shelling against guards and oil infrastructure at Es Sider and Ras Lanuf. By 6 January, fires had spread to four large crude-storage tanks at Es Sider and one at Ras Lanuf; officials estimated each tank held roughly 420,000–460,000 barrels. At least nine Petroleum Facilities Guard personnel were killed and more than 40 wounded in the fighting on 4–5 January, while guards reported recovering about 30 militant bodies. Security forces retained control of both terminals. The ports were already closed because of earlier civil-war fighting, so this record does not attribute a new production shutdown to the attack, but the loss and threatened loss of stored crude represented major physical damage and environmental risk. This incident is separate from the June 2018 fighting and storage-tank destruction at the same terminal complex.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.