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Limiting oil output from Nigeria and Libya wont be on the agenda when OPEC and other producers meet on Monday, with both African nations saying theyll need to keep pumping at a higher level before they can joina global effort to stem a supply glut, according to two people familiar with the planned talks.

Nigeria is ready to cap or even reduce supply if it can maintain output of 1.8 million barrels a day, said the two people, asking not to be identified because the information is confidential. Libya isnt planning to join any agreement to curb output until it reaches its target of 1.25 million barrels a day by December, they said.Producers including Saudi Arabia and Russia are gatheringin St. Petersburg, Russia, to assess the effectiveness of an international accord to pare output.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih met with delegations from Libya and Nigeria over the weekend to discuss their production recovery plans, including the challenges they currently face, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Sunday in a statement on its website.

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Both African OPEC members were exempt from the cuts agreement, which took effect in January, because of their struggles to restore production amid internal strife. Their increased output in recent months has prompted speculation that OPEC may seek to limit their production to help stabilize oil markets.Brent crude has declined 15 percent this year on concerns that rising output from Nigeria and Libya, as well as the U.S., is offsetting the cuts that OPEC and allied producers including Russia extended through March.

The oil market will need more Libyan and Nigerian crude as it re-balances at a faster rate later in the year after a slow start, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo told reporters on Sunday in St. Petersburg.

The re-balancing process may be going on at a slower pace than we earlier projected, but it is on course, and its bound to accelerate in the second half, Barkindo said. Oil demand is expected to grow by 2 million barrels a day in the second half, he said, without specifying if he was comparing that with the same period of 2016 or the first half of this year.

Nigeria boosted its output to 1.75 million barrels a day in June from 1.5 million barrels in December, while Libyas production climbed to 840,000 barrels a day from 630,000 barrels, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

We will of course discuss the situation in all countries, including Libya and Nigeria,Russias Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters. Russia has reduced output by 300,000 barrels a day since October, in line with its agreement to cut production.

Ministers on Monday will discuss other ways to accommodate the recovering output in Libya and Nigeria, one of the people familiar said. Libyas representative at talks on Saturday told a committee of OPEC and non-OPEC members that the country will struggle to reach output of 1.25 million barrels a day and keep it there, at least for the rest of this year, according to both people familiar.

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Libya, Nigeria Oil Output Caps Are Said to Be Ruled Out for Now - Bloomberg

The corpses have been shipped to Misrata, a city further to the west whose forces led the fight to defeat Islamic State in Sirte in December.

A general view shows destruction in Sirte's Al-Giza Al-Bahriya district on 20 December 2016 after they drove the Islamic State (IS) group out of its Libyan stronghold. Picture: AFP.

MISRATA - Seven months after Libyan forces defeated Islamic State in the coastal city of Sirte, hundreds of bodies of foreign militants still lie stored in freezers as authorities negotiate with other governments to decide what to do with them, local officials say.

The corpses have been shipped to Misrata, a city further to the west whose forces led the fight to defeat Islamic State in Sirte in December.

Allowing the bodies to be shipped home to countries such as Tunisia, Sudan and Egypt would be sensitive for the governments involved, wary of acknowledging how many of their citizens left to fight as jihadists in Iraq, Syria and Libya.

"Our team removed hundreds of bodies," a member of the Misrata organised crime unit dealing with the bodies told Reuters, his face masked to conceal his identity because of security concerns.

"This is the main operation which allows us to preserve the bodies, document and photograph them and also collect DNA samples."

The crime unit said it was awaiting a decision from the Prosecutor General, who was in talks with foreign governments over the return of the bodies.

Islamic State has now been defeated in its main stronghold in the Iraqi city of Mosul and is under pressure in its base in the Syrian city of Raqqa. But at the height of its territorial control it attracted recruits from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe to its ranks.

In Tunisia alone, officials say more than 3,000 citizens left to fight in Syria, Iraq and Libya. Tunisians who trained in militant camps in Libya carried out two gun attacks on foreign tourists in 2015 that battered Tunisia's vital tourism industry.

Islamic State took over Sirte in 2015, taking advantage of infighting between rival Libyan armed factions and using the city as a base from which to attack oil fields and other nearby towns.

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Hundreds of Islamic State corpses await repatriation from Libya - Eyewitness News

The Libyan Beach Volleyball Championship concluded Libya tournament on Friday in the coastal city of Zuwara, west of the capital Tripoli. The tournament that took off on Thursday was organized and sponsored by Aljazeera Sport's Club and under the auspices of the Libyan General Beach Ball Union. 13 teams from Zuwarah, Tripoli, Sabha, Zliten and Misrata participated the first phase of the tournament with the system of point collecting, awaiting the second phase that will takeplace in Benghazi in the coming period, while the final phase will be held in Misrata.

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The "Tripoli Movement" organized a protest in the Algeria square in central Tripoli on Saturday to denounce the aggression of Zionists on the occupied holy city of Al-Quds in Palestine. The protesters held banners condemning the repeated attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They also declared their solidarity with the Palestinian people in the face of the brutal occupation and the Zionist assault on the holy mosque.

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Dignity Operation air force conducted Sunday fresh airstrikes on Derna for the third consecutive day, leaving material damage to civilians houses but no casualties.

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has mobilized forces in Sirte and is preparing to repel a large scale and imminent attack from ISIS militants, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Brigadier General Mohammed Al-Ghosari, has declared.

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The management of Tobruk Water Desalination Plant said in a statement on Saturday that the of the operating materials needed to keep it active, in addition to the growing age of the plant that has gone nearly 17 years without carrying out any large-scale refurbishment.

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The National Oil Corporation announced the successful export of its third shipment from the floating oil terminal of Gaza in the offshore Bori oil field. The terminal was operated during the first quarter of this year, according to the company's page on Facebook, which added that the export operation was carried out by Libyan crews without any presence of foreign engineers as in the previous two oil exports.

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The Etihad Handball Team is continuing its ongoing external training camp in Tunisia in preparation for the final match of the 2016-2017 Libyan League to be held in Gharyan later this month. The 10-day training in Sousse has seen most players selected to play in the squad this season under the supervision of Libyan coach Abdel Salam al-Ahmar.

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A meeting of the reconciliation committee between Zintan and Mashashiya was held on Saturday in the Municipality of Hawamad in the Nafusa Mountain. The meeting was attended by members of reconciliation committees from different cities and regions, in the hope to keep track of reconciliation progress and to form further sub-committees to deal with the problems and security breaches that occur from time to time in the region.

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Al-Kufra security forces have arrested 60 illegal immigrants trying to infiltrate into the city and cross the sand barrier to the north of Kufra at the tri-border crossing with Egypt and Sudan. The border areas adjacent to Kufra are a transit point hotbed for smuggling and illegal immigration to and from Libya via a three-way border which extends for hundreds of kilometers.

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News Roundup - Sun, Jul 23, 2017 - The Libya Observer

MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - Seven months after Libyan forces defeated Islamic State in the coastal city of Sirte, hundreds of bodies of foreign militants still lie stored in freezers as authorities negotiate with other governments to decide what to do with them, local officials say.

The corpses have been shipped to Misrata, a city further to the west whose forces led the fight to defeat Islamic State in Sirte in December.

Allowing the bodies to be shipped home to countries such as Tunisia, Sudan and Egypt would be sensitive for the governments involved, wary of acknowledging how many of their citizens left to fight as jihadists in Iraq, Syria and Libya.

"Our team removed hundreds of bodies," a member of the Misrata organized crime unit dealing with the bodies told Reuters, his face masked to conceal his identity because of security concerns.

"This is the main operation which allows us to preserve the bodies, document and photograph them and also collect DNA samples."

The crime unit said it was awaiting a decision from the Prosecutor General, who was in talks with foreign governments over the return of the bodies.

Islamic State has now been defeated in its main stronghold in the Iraqi city of Mosul and is under pressure in its base in the Syrian city of Raqqa. But at the height of its territorial control it attracted recruits from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe to its ranks.

In Tunisia alone, officials say more than 3,000 citizens left to fight in Syria, Iraq and Libya. Tunisians who trained in militant camps in Libya carried out two gun attacks on foreign tourists in 2015 that battered Tunisia's vital tourism industry.

Islamic State took over Sirte in 2015, taking advantage of infighting between rival Libyan armed factions and using the city as a base from which to attack oil fields and other nearby towns.

Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Mark Trevelyan

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Hundreds of Islamic State corpses await repatriation from Libya - Reuters

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Fighting between the self-styled Libyan National Army and rival armed groups in Benghazi killed six troops and wounded eight as the LNA advanced into the last pockets of resistance in eastern Libya's largest city, a commander said on Saturday.

The LNA, led by Khalifa Haftar, also carried out air strikes on armed groups in the city of Derna, further east, who fired back with anti-aircraft cannon, witnesses told Reuters.

Haftar's eastern forces are engaged in a multi-sided conflict between factions that fought together to oust veteran Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but are now battling each other.

A U.N.-backed government in Tripoli is trying to bring stability to the North African OPEC member, but it is struggling to impose its authority. Haftar has so far rejected the Tripoli government as his forces advance in eastern Libya.

Two weeks ago, Haftar declared Benghazi's "liberation" in a televised speech after three years of fighting. But street battles continue as his LNA troops face resistance from the Majlis Shura Thuwar Benghazi, an alliance of ex-rebels and Islamists.

"Special forces carried out an attack on Friday on the last resistance pockets of terrorism in Khraibeesh area and successfully the forces advanced and controlled several points," an LNA commander, Mari El-Houti, said of the Benghazi operation.

El-Houti said the advance was impeded by a large number of mines in the area. He said 30 mines were dismantled on Friday.

Haftar, a former Gaddafi ally who turned against him, has gained ground with support from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Derna, some 380 km (235 miles) east of Benghazi, is still under the control of an alliance of Islamists and former rebels called the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council.

Reporting by Ayman Al-Warfalli in Benghazi; writing by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli; editing by Patrick Markey and Mark Trevelyan

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Eastern commander's forces battle resistance in Libya's Benghazi - Reuters