Fighting suspends output at Libya oil field

TRIPOLI — Libya's National Oil Corporation said fighting triggered a suspension of production Wednesday at a key field in the country's southwest.

Forces loyal to eastern Libya strongman Khalifa Haftar said they carried out air raids against "armed groups" that had attacked Al Feel field. 

Haftar's forces control Al Feel, which produces some 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) in a joint venture between NOC and Italy's ENI.

The NOC said the air raids hit the entrance to the field and a housing compound used by staff.

"NOC staff at the field are protected in safe areas, but they cannot resume their normal duties," the firm's chairman Mustafa Sanalla said.

Production would remain suspended until military activity ceased and all armed personnel withdrew from the production area, he said. 

The company posted on its Facebook page a video of the field showing a thick column of smoke, with the sound of combat clearly audible.

Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army seized the country's main southern oil fields — including Al Feel — early this year in an operation it said targeted "terrorist groups".

The oil fields had previously been controlled by local tribes.

After its campaign in the south, the LNA in April launched an assault on the capital Tripoli, seat of the UN-recognised Government of National Accord.

Fighting on that front — centred on southern Tripoli — has not affected Libya's oil production, estimated at 1.25 million bpd.

Libya has been mired in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed dictator Muammar Qadhafi in 2011.

Military clashes and political rivalries have often stymied oil production, the country's main source of revenue.