Libyan state guards shut airport at Libyan Wafa oilfield -NOC

Libyan state guards have closed the airport of the southwestern Wafa oilfield, co-owned by Italy's ENI, state oil firm NOC said on Thursday.

The operator will be forced to shut down the field which produces around 40,000 barrels a day of crude and condensates as well as 400 million cubic feet of natural gas should the closure continue, NOC said in a statement.

The statement published on Thursday said it had planned to evacuate all workers by the previous afternoon unless the airport needed to supply the field reopened.

It was not immediately clear whether this had happened.

NOC said the protesters were planning to "extort" Mellitah, the joint-venture between ENI and NOC running Wafa and other operations, without giving details.

"NOC denounces the criminal and irresponsible act which damages the local economy," NOC said, adding that it would not negotiate under pressure.

Guards, paid by the state to protect oil faculties, as well as other groups regularly seize oilfields to pressure weak authorities into giving them extra pay and benefits, part of chaos in the OPEC producer since 2011.

NOC and other government entities have agreed in the past to some demands, in the end, to keep oil and gas exports flowing, Libya's only source of income.