BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libya’s El Feel oilfield is still producing some 75,000 barrels a day and there has been no fighting in the area contrary to what some local media have reported, a field engineer there told Reuters by telephone on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, a spokesman for eastern-based Libyan military forces said they had taken control of the field in Libya’s southwest. Forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) posted a video purporting to show their vehicles driving into El Feel.

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), which operates the field in a joint venture with Italy’s Eni, expressed concern about developments around El Feel. </s> BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Eastern-based Libyan military forces have taken control of the 70,000 barrel per day south-western El Feel oilfield, their spokesman said on Thursday.

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), which operates the field in a joint venture with Italy’s Eni, expressed concern.

“NOC is concerned about the developments near El Feel oilfield and is monitoring the situation closely to ensure the safety of its staff,” an NOC representative said.

Forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar have waged an offensive in Libya’s south since last month. Earlier in February they carried out air strikes near El Feel.

Forces loyal to Haftar Libyan National Army (LNA) posted a video purporting to show their vehicles driving into El Feel.

Their control over the field could not be independently verified.

The LNA also claimed control earlier this month of Sharara oilfield, Libya’s largest, which has been closed since tribesmen and state guards seized it in December.

Eastern-based forces later said they had handed control of Sharara to the NOC, which has said it will assess security before reopening the field.

Over the past two days LNA forces have been battling for control of the southern city of Murzuq, close to Sharara. </s> TUNIS, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Thursday it was concerned by developments at the south-western El Feel oilfield after eastern-based forces said they had taken control of the field.

“NOC is concerned about the developments near El Feel oilfield and is monitoring the situation closely to ensure the safety of its staff,” an NOC spokesperson said. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Susan Fenton) </s> BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libya's El Feel oilfield is still producing some 75,000 barrels a day and there has been no fighting in the area contrary to what some local media have reported, a field engineer there told Reuters by telephone on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, a spokesman for eastern-based Libyan military forces said they had taken control of the field in Libya's southwest. Forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) posted a video purporting to show their vehicles driving into El Feel.

Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), which operates the field in a joint venture with Italy's Eni, expressed concern about developments around El Feel.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.

Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button. </s> A view shows El Feel oil field near Murzuq, Libya, July 6, 2017. REUTERS/Aidan Lewis/File Photo

BENGHAZI, Libya/TUNIS (Reuters) - Eastern-based Libyan military forces took control on Thursday of the southwestern El Feel oilfield, their spokesman and a field engineer said.

Production was unaffected and continuing in the range of 75,000 barrels a day, the usual level, the engineer said, asking not to be named. He denied local media reports that there had been fighting inside the field located deep in Libya’s south.

State oil firm National Oil Corp (NOC), which operates the field in a joint venture with Italy’s Eni, “is concerned about the developments near El Feel oilfield and is monitoring the situation closely to ensure the safety of its staff,” an NOC representative said.

Forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar have waged an offensive in Libya’s south since last month. Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) posted a video purporting to show their vehicles driving into El Feel. Reuters was unable to confirm its authenticity.

Separately, LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari said his forces had allowed planes of oil firms bound for El Feel and the nearby El Sharara oilfield to resume flights.

The LNA this month imposed a ban on any flights without its permission and carried out air strikes near El Feel after a plane arrived carrying a rival commander from Tripoli, home to the U.N.-recognized government. Haftar backs a rival administration based in the east.

The LNA last week secured the El Sharara oilfield located also in the south by cooperating with state guards which had occupied it in December to press officials into financial demands.

NOC has not reopened El Sharara yet, demanding guarantees for its workers. This week it sent an inspection team by road to assess the security, but no results have been made public yet. El Sharara produced around 315,000 barrels per day until it got closed. </s> BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Eastern-based Libyan military forces have taken control of the south-western El Feel oilfield, their spokesman said on Thursday.

The forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar have waged an offensive in Libya’s south since last month. Earlier this month they carried out airstrikes near El Feel, where recent production was around 70,000 barrels per day. </s> BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Eastern Libyan military forces have full control of Libya’s biggest oilfield, El Sharara, a spokesman said, in a challenge to the internationally recognized government in Tripoli.

FILE PHOTO: Pipes are pictured at the El Sharara oilfield December 3, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo

There was no immediate confirmation or comment from state oil firm NOC which operates with foreign partners the 315,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) field deep in Libya’s southern desert.

LNA (the Libyan National Army) based in eastern Libya began an offensive in the south last month to fight militants and secure oilfields.

Last Wednesday, the LNA reached a remote pumping station of El Sharara, but had until now not moved on the main field, which a force of state guards and tribesmen seized in December demanding funds. Production stopped then.

“Peacefully with no resistance LNA has full control over Sharara oilfield with all its facilities,” the LNA spokesman said on Twitter, adding the facility was being secured.

Pictures posted online showed jubilant soldiers standing in front of an El Sharara signpost. Reuters was unable to reach workers at the field for further information.

Hours earlier, the LNA’s chief of staff, Abdel-Razeq Nathouri, told Reuters the soldiers were negotiating access to the field.

The internationally recognized government in Tripoli had tried sending its own commander, Ali Kennah, to secure the field. El Sharara had formally belonged to the Tripoli administration which in reality had been unable to exercise control.

Kennah had flown on the weekend to the nearby El Feel oilfield and later made it to El Sharara, but failed to take control of it, oil workers have said.

Oil production in Libya, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has been disrupted since conflict broke out in 2011, with protesters and armed groups often targeting oilfields and energy infrastructure.

National production stands at under 1 million bpd, well below pre-2011 capacity of 1.6 million bpd. </s> Tripoli: A force loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar announced on Thursday it had taken control of a key oil field in the conflict-wracked country's south. Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) "have peacefully taken control of the Al-Fil field", spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari said on Facebook.

The Al-Fil field currently produces about 73,000 barrels a day and is managed by Mellitah Oil and Gas, a joint venture between Italy's Eni and Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC). The North African country has been torn between rival administrations, myriad militias and jihadists since the overthrow and killing of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord is recognised by the international community, but a parallel administration in eastern Libya is backed by the LNA.

Since mid-January, the LNA has been conducting a military operation in the south aimed at rooting out "terrorists" and foreign fighters. It already controls most of the important oil terminals in the country's east, and earlier this month it seized the Al-Sharara field some 900 kilometres (560 miles) south of Tripoli. It entrusts the management of those sites to the NOC — which tries to juggle ties with the rival camps. In a separate incident in the country's south, armed men murdered a security official in the town of Murzuk, the UN-backed government said, a day after LNA forces entered.

General Ibrahim Mohamad Kari was killed on Wednesday by "an outlawed armed group", the government said, calling the killing a "cowardly crime" and vowing to bring the culprits to justice. Libyan media said Kari, a member of the minority Tubu community, was killed when armed men raided his home in Murzuk. On Wednesday night, Haftar's LNA said it had entered and taken control of Murzuk as part of the offensive launched in January. Haftar's forces have accused some Tubu of supporting the Chadian rebels.

Murzuk is a stronghold of the Tubus, many of whom are opposed to Haftar's offensive, and lies in a region where tensions run high between them and Arab tribes, who have largely joined LNA ranks.

Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button. </s> BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Forces belonging to the internationally-recognized government of Libya reached the El Sharara oil field on Sunday, a Tripoli-based government source said.

The North African nation's biggest field is a focus of the conflict between the Tripoli-based government and a rival administration based in eastern Libya.

Separately, an eastern Libyan military plane intercepted on Sunday a civilian plane after it took off from the El Feel oilfield, forcing it to land in the southern region of Sebha, said a source from the eastern-based armed forces.

Both fields are located in southern Libya.
The Tobruk-based Libyan National Army says it has taken control of the El Feel oilfield in Libya's southern Murzuq District.