Armed men attack Total joint-owned oilfield in Libya

Armed men attacked an oilfield in Libya jointly operated by French energy giant Total and Libya’s National Oil Company (NOC) on Tuesday, both companies announced. The civilian personnel had been evacuated on time to avoid casualties, the NOC said.

A Fajr Libya in Kikla last December AFP

An armed group attacked the oilfield at Mabrouk, 100 km south of Syrte, a former bastion of deposed leader Moamer Kadhafi now a base for armed Islamst groups, Total said in a statement Tuesday.

All Total employees had been withdrawn fro the site in 2013 for security reasons, it said.

The NOC confirmed the news to the AFP news agency, adding that the personnel had managed to flee the site on time to avoid casualties but saying that it did not know if any of the guards, who are members of the Libyan army, had been injured or killed.

The Mabrouk site, like many other Libyan oilfields, was not producing, largely because export terminals are not working properly due to the violence that has hit the country.

Several oilfields in the east of the country have been attacked recently, following an offensive by Fajr Libya Islamist militias, which control Tripoli and are trying to take over strategic sites.