The National Oil Corporation (NOC) expressed its concern on Friday regarding the presence of Russian and other foreign mercenaries in the Sharara oilfield.

Dozens of military vehicles were witnessed entering the oilfield on Thursday evening where they met with oil guards, NOC said in a statement.

The Head of the NOC, Mustafa Sanallah, said that “the Libyan oil fields do not need Russian mercenaries or any other mercenaries for that matter, whose sole task is to prevent the resumption of oil production”.

He stressed that the oil installations need strong independent and professional national security forces, who could facilitate the resumption of oil production operations, which would benefit all members of the Libyan society.