Rival Libyan government makes move for oil power, captures field

TUNIS/BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya's political strife intensified on Monday as a rival government that has seized the capital stepped up its battle for power and legitimacy, taking control of a key oil field, according to a security commander, and meeting its first foreign minister.

An armed brigade from Operation Dawn, one of the factions backing the rival government, took control of Libya's largest oil  field, El Sharara, a commander in charge of security at the site said. If confirmed, it would be the first attempt to take physical control of oil production by the rival government.

The Tripoli-based rival administration has also appointed its own oil minister in a move seen by analysts as designed to assert more pressure on Libya's National Oil Corp., which had previously remained largely above the political forces tearing at the seams of the country.

While the National Oil Corp. said El Sharara would reopen by Wednesday, the growing turmoil has cast doubt on Libya's ability to maintain its recent rebound in output, which contributed to a near 30 per cent drop in international oil prices since June.

"The manager of the field insists reopening the field just because he wants to make good relations with the invaders," said commander Abdulhamid Kraeer, who belongs to a brigade from Zintan allied to the internationally recognised government, which has fled to the country's east.

"But it is difficult to reopen the [El Sharara] field as there will be, I guess, an escalation," he said, adding that the attackers belong to Operation Dawn, the brigade controlling Tripoli. Dawn was not immediately available for comment.

Libya's oil production rose above 900,000 barrels a day in September, sharply above lows of 100,000 barrels a day in June.

But it now looks increasingly under threat, and has already fallen to around 500,000 bpd at most.

In another sign of shifting power, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti flew to Tripoli to meet Omar Al Hassi, prime minister of the rival government. A Turkish envoy had already met Hassi, who has so-far been shunned by Western powers.

The internationally recognised government, based in the eastern city of Tobruk since August, has not appointed an oil minister, leading to questions about who will represent Libya when the OPEC producer group meets in Vienna later this month.