The U.S., AFRICOM , Libya and Oil http://mostlywater.org/us_libya_and_oil

As for Libya, the U.S. doesn't get oil from Libya, but its allies in Europe do. And the current crisis is African Command's (AFRICOM) coming out party. Up to now the record of the spanking new military formation has been less than impressive. First, no one would host it, because the U.S. military in Africa makes the locals nervous. So it is still based in Germany. Then it coordinated the absolutely disastrous Ethiopian invasion of Somalia that ended up turning most of the country over to the extremist Shabab.

But Libya is a fresh slate for AFRICOM, and that is making the Chinese even more nervous (and explains why they have been so cranky about civilian casualties in Libya). When AFRICOM was in its infancy it war-gamed a military intervention in the Gulf of Guinea in case "civil disturbances" caused any disruptions in oil supplies. Angola, China's other major African supplier, is in the Gulf of Guinea. It hardly seems like a coincidence that, at the very moment that African oil supplies become important, the U.S. creates a new military formation for the continent. AFRICOM is currently advising and training the military forces of 53 countries in the region.