Libya's El Shahara oil field is the biggest in Africa (Image: Getty ) RUSSIA is eyeong up its chance to take control of Libya’s oil production facilities in a bid to hold Europe to ransom, experts warned last night. It follows the decision by Putin proxy General Khalifa Haftar, who controls eastern and southern Libya, to shut down the country’s largest oil field. El Sharara is capable of pumping 300,00 barrels of oil a day, 80 per cent of which goes to Europe through its operators - Spain’s Repsol, France’s TotalEnergies, Austria's OMV and Norway's state-controlled Equinor.

It became more crucial to Europe's energy needs following the decision to boycott Russian oil after its invasion of Ukraine . function loadOvpScript(){let el=document.createElement('script');el.

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