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> 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> 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. </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> (Hatha al-Youm | Iraq News )-Eastern Libyan forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar carried out four air strikes near the El Feel oilfield as a warning to a rival commander, a field engineer said on Saturday.It was the first military action by the eastern army since it banned all flights in southern Libya without its authorization on Friday.The strikes were directed at commander Ali Kennah, who was inside the compound at the time, the engineer told Reuters. Kennah is allied to the internationally recognized Tripoli government, while Haftar backs a parallel administration in the east.The fractured political climate has caused significant disruption to the country's oil industry.The Tripoli Government of National Accord (GNA), backed by the United Nations, said in a statement that the strike targeted a civilian plane that was trying to evacuate a number of wounded people from the oilfield to Tripoli.The strikes damaged the oilfield's infrastructure and its airport runway and "put civilian lives at risk", the statement added, without adding details of any casualties.State oil firm NOC, which runs the El Feel field with foreign partners, could not be immediately reached for comment.Haftar is a dominant figure in eastern Libya where his Libyan National Army group seized the second-largest city of Benghazi in 2017 by expelling Islamists and other fighters.Last month, his forces started an offensive in the south to fight militants and secure its oilfields, and on Wednesday made good on the promise by moving on the closed El Sharara field.His forces have occupied a pumping station some 20 km (12 miles) from the main El Sharara field but not the rest of the 315,000 barrels a day site, according to a field engineer.The El Feel field is located in the same southwestern region and is still producing crude, usually around 70,000 barrels a day.El Sharara was shut in December after tribesmen and state guards seized it.Kennah, the commander of the Sabha military zone who served under former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, was appointed by Prime Minister Fayez Seraj last week. Fayez leads the GNA. </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) - A jet from Khalifa Haftar’s east Libyan military forces intercepted a civilian plane on Sunday as part of its push to control the oil-rich south of the riven nation, the faction said.

Libya has been in turmoil since the NATO-backed toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with parallel administrations and armed groups carving the nation into swathes of control.

Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) began an offensive in the south last month to fight militants and take control of oil installations, and this week banned flights without its permission.

In a statement, the LNA said it scrambled a jet after a plane took off from the El Feel oilfield without permission, and forced it to land near Sabha, the largest town in south Libya.

It was allowed to continue to Tripoli, seat of the internationally-recognised government, after inspection.

The Tripoli government protested against the interception, saying the Libyan Airlines plane was carrying oil workers.

The LNA, which is allied to a parallel government in the eastern city of Benghazi, wants to secure the El Sharara oilfield, Libya’s largest, and occupied a pumping station 20km (12 miles) away on Wednesday, according to a field engineer.

The Tripoli government, striving to reassert its former control of El Sharara, has sent troops there, a source from the administration said.

El Sharara has been shut since December when local tribesmen and state guards seized it. </s> 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. </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.
The Libyan Tobruk-based government has full control of the El Sharara oil field, the largest oilfield in Libya, after it was captured by the Libyan National Army. The oilfield, which was formerly under the control of Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, was taken over by local tribesmen in December 2018.