Eastern forces expand Libyan energy sector grip

Warlord Khalifa Haftar has captured the country's largest oil field, putting a new question mark over the fragile oil recovery

The capture of the southern Sharara field, a 315,000bl/d joint venture between the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and Spain's Repsol, gives Haftar control of the bulk of Libya's oil fields, with his Libyan National Army (LNA) already master of the eastern Sirte Basin, home to two-thirds of total production. The LNA, based in east Libya, has many times tried to seize the south, seeing it as a springboard to its long-promised offensive on Tripoli to topple its UN-backed government. Success appears to have come after the largest local tribe, al-Sulaimen, defected to its side. No damage was done to the Sharara facilities in what was a bloodless capture following operations to take nearby airfiel