The UN backed government in Tripoli is called the Government of National Account (GNA).
There is a rival government in Benghazi called the Libyan National Army (LNA). Khalifa Haftar is the leader of that government.
Okay . . .
I've briefly mentioned the El Sharara oilfield in my blog. Back in late 2017, there were protests at the oilfield around allocation of oil money to South Libya.
Fast forward to 2019. Reuters reported January 15th that the LNA "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."
The article goes on to explain that Haftar had sent troops to the city of Sabha. This was not the first time the LNA sent troops to Sabha. In March 2018, I wrote a post about how LNA troops were fighting in the city.
To the southwest of Sabha are the El Sharara oilfield.
El Sharara, more than 200 km (125 miles) from Sabha, has been closed since December due to a protest by tribesmen and state guards demanding salary payments and development in the area.
That quote sounds like a repeat of late 2017.
Reuters reported on February 6th that the LNA took control of the El Sharara oilfield, which were still shut down due to protests. It is interesting that from December 2018 to January 2019, the GNA was unable to deal with the situation. The LNA may have had better luck due to some pre-negotiations with the protestors:
A tribal protest leader told Reuters: “With the army (LNA) we can find an understanding as they are military people.” He did not elaborate and it was impossible to get more details.
The fact that the LNA took control of the oilfield got the GNA to act.
The Guardian reported on February 8th:
Fighting has broken out over the future of Libya’s largest oil field, as forces loyal to the UN-recognised Tripoli-based government battle Libyan National Army (LNA) forces led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the leading figure in fractured Libya’s east.
The article goes on to say that Haftar has control of a significant portion of the "oil crescent" in the north and now El Sharara in the south.
This just brings a number of questions to mind. The Tripoli government (GNA) knew that the LNA was in the city of Sabha. They knew that the LNA had to be interested in El Sharara as this was mentioned by Reuters in mid-January. Why did the GNA wait until after the LNA took over the El Sharara oilfield to send troops there? Shouldn't they have sent troops to the area sooner? Or were they afraid that they wouldn't be welcomed by the protesting tribesmen?
Now just because the LNA controls El Sharara doesn't mean that they have control of the oil revenue and how it can be allocated. As discussed in a blog post back in July 2018 and in this Guardian article, the LNA tried to control the oil revenues of the "oil crescent" in the north. They were forced to back down (via international pressure) and allow the National Oil Corporation (NOC) to handle the funds.
One has to wonder if international players are changing their minds on who should control the oil: GNA or the LNA. One of LNA's international allies is France, which played a role in forcing the LNA to backdown on control of oil revenues in the north. The Guardian has this tidbit regarding how the French helped the LNA deal with Chadian rebels:
Haftar’s southward move was helped on Sunday by French air forces. Paris admitted at the weekend its warplanes had bombed a column of 40 rebel pickup trucks after they crossed into northern Chad from Libya – insurgents the LNA claimed were fleeing its offensive.
I'll have to see what happens next on this topic of control of Libyan oil.
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