According to one source, a Cruise missile cost $569,000 in 1999. http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=2200&tid=1300&ct=2
In todays' money, that is about $755,820.Let's say that Operation Odyssey Dawn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Odyssey_Dawn fired 110 cruise missiles into Libya (as reported http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/cruise-missiles-fired-at-libyan-targets-by-us-british-forces/story-fn3dxity-1226024809095), then that is $83 million fired in the space of a couple of days.
In fact - I learnt this via Huffington Post blog just now - the Federation of American Scientists suggests the following costs:
$500,000 - current production unit cost of a BGM 109 Tomahawk Cruise Missile$1,400,000 - average unit cost (TY$) I assume this is the total cost of acquiring and maintaining the missile. $11,210,000,000 - total program cost (TY$) http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/bgm-109.htm
If you take the all-up cost of shooting the missiles, that would suggest something like "$154 million fired away".
In 2007, BP agreed to invest $900m in a deal to explore Libyan oilfields. Libya produces 1.6 million barrels of oil per day; domestic consumption = 270,000 barrels a day, this is about 17% of the output (!). If you assume a price per barrel of $110, then the total oil production is worth $176 million per day or about $64 billion per year. If you assume $120 a barrel it's $70 billion.
Libya is the 17th-largest producer in the world, the third-largest producer in Africa and holds the continent's largest crude oil reserves (41 billion barrels = 25 years production at the current rate). At least some 100,000 barrels per day, around 6 percent of Libya's production, have been lost due to the revolt against Gaddafi (according to Reuters). The loss would be $11 or $12 million per day = $340m to $370m in about a month's time.
According to Reuters, the eastern terminals of Es Sider, Marsa el Brega, Ras Lanuf, Tobruk and Zuetina exported on average 825,000 barrels of crude per day in the last four months ($80-85m per day, about $30 billion per year). The western port of Zaiwa, near the capital Tripoli, exported an average of 251,000 barrels a day (say $28m per day, or $10 billion a year).
The cash value of shellshocking Gaddafi is probably pretty good, but probably even better is the opportunity to set an example who the real boss is, and what the boss wants - a sort of shock therapy to shrink any dictator down to size.
Jurriaan
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