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 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-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) - 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>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>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) - Eastern Libyan forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Haftar fought tribesmen for a second day for control of the southern city of Murzuq, military officials and residents said, as part of campaign to secure oilfields in the south.

At least three soldiers have been killed since Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) force on Wednesday entered Murzuq, a city 900 km (560 miles) south of the capital Tripoli, a military source said.

Around 11 tribesmen have been killed and 15 wounded, Libya’s al-Ahrar channel said. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.

It was the first protracted city battle fought by the LNA since it started a campaign to control the south and its oilfields a month ago.

Haftar, whose powerbase is the eastern city of Benghazi, leads the LNA, which controls the east of the North African nation and major oil ports in the region. Haftar has become a major player in Libya since his forces seized Benghazi in 2017, after a three-year battle mainly with Islamist fighters.

So far the LNA had mostly negotiated access with local groups and tribes, securing the leading city of Sabha and the El Sharara oilfield without facing resistance.

Murzuq is important to the LNA because it is key to securing the 315,000 barrels a day-El Sharara, lying between the field and Sabha, home to the LNA’s main southern base.

Last week, the LNA sent troops to control the field but they had set off from a smaller base in Ubari, a city northwest of Murzuq. The LNA has gained access to El-Sharara field by working with state guards who had closed it in December to back financial and other demands. NOC declared has force majeure, a waiver on its contracts, since then.

State oil firm NOC, based in Tripoli, in the west of Libya where the internationally recognised government is based, has said it will not reopen the field without a new security arrangement and once other conditions are met, such as ensuring its workers are safe.

Haftar’s LNA is allied to a parallel administration based in the east, and it is locked in a conflict with rival forces over control of the OPEC member country.</s>In the southern Libyan city of Oubari, shops are shuttered and tension is palpable, as residents fear an imminent incursion by forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar.

We "dread the repercussions of military operations that are unfolding on the edge of town", said 22-year-old hospital administrator Ali Senoussi, speaking on behalf of his Tubu community.

Many residents in Oubari -- some 900 kilometres (560 miles) south of Tripoli -- are Tubu.

The ethnic group fears vengeance by Arab communities that have joined an offensive by Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), which is on the outskirts of the city.

Long marginalised, Tubus live in the Tibesti region, which straddles Libya, Chad and Niger, an area long at the mercy of roaming rebel groups, traffickers and jihadists.

"We are residents of this region. Our support and love for it is immense", said 22-year-old Senoussi, clothed in a traditional head robe to screen desert sun and wind.

"We cannot accept being involved in wars with Arab tribes that fight alongside Haftar", he insisted, sipping tea in the courtyard of a hospital where he works as an administrator.

The LNA says it is seeking to purge "terrorist and criminal groups", and some accuse the Tubus of supporting Chadian rebels.

But Senoussi dismisses the offensive as "a threat to the social peace of the whole region".

Tubu lawmakers even allege that ethnic cleansing is under way.

The community was among the first to join the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed Moamer Kadhafi.

But the former dictator's downfall by no means improved Tubus' standing in Libya.

Despite being home to some of the country's biggest oilfields, the region is regularly hit by shortages of all kinds -- petrol, electricity, gas cylinders and even bread.

Prices have rocketed on the black market.

Senoussi said the lack of fuel had forced him to leave his car at home and walk to work.

"Most public sector workers prefer to walk" to avoid long queues that have become a fixture of daily life at gas stations, he said.

The intensified chaos of recent years means that the southern border areas are more than ever a haven for jihadists, traffickers and rebels.

These groups exploit a security vacuum that is exacerbated by an ongoing power struggle between a UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli and a rival administration loyal to Haftar in northeastern Libya.

Tribal and ethnic quarrels between the Tubus, Tuaregs and Arab groups over trafficking have added fuel to the fire.

"We are Muslims, but we have a culture and language that we share with our cousins from Chad, Niger and Sudan," explained Ali Yahyia, a Tubu expert on his community.

But this does not undermine "our support for the Libyan homeland", he insisted.

The LNA launched its ongoing military campaign in mid-January and on Wednesday night entered Murzuk, another southern Libyan city home to many Tubus.

Renowned for a fortress that dates back more than seven centuries, much of the historic settlement now resembles a ghost town.

Like Oubari, shops are closed and people are scared to circulate.

Even bakers -- hit by a lack of flour -- cannot raise their blinds.

"The city faces numerous problems at the service level, particularly at the hospital where we have only one doctor", deplored municipal councillor Ibrahim Omar.

"With the military operations that are ongoing, the doctors refuse to come, fearing for their lives", he said.

If the situation persists, "food stocks will in the end be exhausted".
The Tobruk-based Libyan National Army says it has taken control of the El Feel oilfield in Libya's southern Murzuq District.