Oil facilities at the Zawiya refinery had suffered damage following armed clashes on Friday evening, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) confirmed on Saturday.

"Preliminary statistics indicate that 29 sites were damaged, including oil derivatives tanks and several other tanks, and the company’s maintenance and safety teams are still carrying out work to assess and quantify the damage," the NOC said in a statement on Facebook.

It urged restraint and to avert oil installations from armed confrontations, pointing out that the Zawiya oil complex had suffered severe and repeated damage during the past years as a result of armed clashes that erupted nearby.

Zawiya witnessed intermittent clashes on Friday evening. The authorities disclosed that the cause of these clashes was a dispute between two families that evolved into violence involving the use of light and medium weapons.