East Libyan forces clash with rivals near oil ports - officials

East Libyan forces carried out air strikes and clashed with rival factions on Friday close to major oil terminals, eastern military officials said.

The strikes were carried out south of the coastal town of Nawfiliya in response to an attack by the Benghazi Defense Brigades (BDB), according to spokesmen for the eastern air force and for the local Petroleum Facilities Guard.

A military source said clashes were continuing on the ground between the two sides. Nawfiliya is about 50 km (30 miles) west of the oil port Es Sider and 75 km (50 miles) west of another terminal, Ras Lanuf.

Es Sider and Ras Lanuf are among four ports that the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) took control of in September.

It allowed the National Oil Corporation (NOC) to reopen three of the ports which had long been blockaded, leading to a major boost to Libya's oil production.

The LNA's opponents have made several attempts since then to recapture the ports, but have been repelled by air strikes. The Benghazi Defense Brigades are composed partly of fighters who were ousted from Benghazi by the LNA, where LNA commander Khalifa Haftar has been waging a military campaign for nearly three years against Islamists and other opponents.

Libya has recently been producing about 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, more than double its output early last year but still far less than the 1.6 million bpd the OPEC member was pumping before the 2011 uprising.

But production remains vulnerable to political turmoil and continued insecurity, with factions based in the east and west of Libya repeatedly clashing in recent weeks in desert areas southwest of the Oil Crescent whose ports suffered major damage in previous rounds of fighting and are still operating well below capacity.

The NOC has been lobbying foreign firms to return to Libya and invest in the oil and gas sector as it tries to push production to 1.2 million bpd later this year.