Intel: Russian mercenaries enter key oil field, Libya oil company says

A convoy of Russian mercenaries entered Libya’s Sharara oil field and met with the facility’s security forces yesterday, the country’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said. The meeting comes as oil from the country’s major fields, under the influence of military strongman Khalifa Hifter, are shut down.

The United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) was hoping for a restart pumping at Sharara, which is located in Libya’s southwest, as the GNA broke out from Tripoli in recent months. The NOC blamed Hifter-aligned forces earlier this month for preventing Sharara from coming back online.

The corporation expressed “grave concern” about Wagner’s visit to Sharara, Reuters reported. Mustafa Sanallah, head of the Tripoli-based NOC, accused some parties involved in the conflict of “working in the background to support blockading forces.”

Wagner operates as an unofficial arm of Russia’s Defense Ministry, which backs Hifter in his war against the Tripoli-based government.