(Ecofin Agency) - Libya’s National Oil Company has revealed that not less than four oil storage tanks was set aflame during the deadly clash in the country as the Islamic State militants make attempts to seize export terminals.

On Monday and Tuesday alone, nine guards were killed and more than 40 injured in the clash. According to Ali al-Hassi, a spokesman of the Petroleum Facilities Guards 30 Islamic State fighters’ bodies were recovered and two military tanks as well as other vehicles from the militants had also been seized.

He said Firefighters were trying to regulate the three fires at Es Sider and one at Ras Lanuf.

Libya has been torn between rival political parties and armed militants contending for power and for the country's oil wealth, four years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi causing oil production to fall from more than a million bpd to about 400,000 bpd, Reuters reports.

Anita Fatunji