The current escalation in violence may lead to a wider conflict over control of the country’s oil resources

An armed group attacked Libya’s largest oilfield on Monday, but was repelled after clashes with its protection force, while fighting escalated in eastern commander Khalifa Haftar’s effort to capture the capital Tripoli, Reuters reports.

Forces loyal to rogue general Khalifa Haftar handed over control of the al-Sharara oilfield in eastern Libya to an oil security force, officials said on Tuesday, allowing Libya’s National Oil Company (NOC) to restart production that has been halted for months.

Eastern Libyan forces handed over control of the El Sharara oilfield to an oil security force, officials said on Tuesday, in a bid to encourage state oil firm NOC to restart production that has been halted since December.

Libya’s Attorney General’s Office (AG) has issued 48 arrest warrants for owners of petrol stations across western Libya in connection with fuel smuggling.

Libya’s biggest oilfield – Sharara – will remain shut until an armed group occupying the site leaves, the head of National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Tuesday, more than a month after the field closed because of a protest, Reuters reported on Tuesday. 

Eastern forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar have launched a military operation in southern Libya to secure oil and gas facilities and fight extremists, a spokesman said on Tuesday, a move that may alarm the authorities in Tripoli in the west, Reuters reports.

The National Oil Corporation (NOC) confirmed an overnight security breach at the Sharara oil field.   The NOC said that in the early hours of Monday, December 31, 2018, an armed group attacked a member of the site’s civil guard, physically assaulting and restraining him, before stealing six air conditioning …

President of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mustafa Sanallah said Thursday that Sharara oil field will remain closed until the full implementation of the reforms related to the Petroleum Facilities Guard in the southern region.

The United Nations Special Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) warned against the possible escalation of manoeuvres into clashes as the Khalifa Hafter-controlled Libyan National Army (LNA) made a pre-emptive move on what the LNA described as Jadran-Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB) forces.