Total Has Moved Tripoli Expatriates out of Libya

French oil major Total has moved all expatriate staff based in Tripoli out of Libya following heavy fighting at the North African country's biggest airport in recent days, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

"Following what happened at the airport, we have pre-emptively relocated expatriate staff based in Tripoli away from Libya," the spokeswoman told Reuters. She declined to say how many staff had been affected or their destination, citing security reasons.

Local workers remain in Libya and there are still expatriates working on the offshore fields, she said. Since 2013, Total has moved some of its Libya-based staff to Malta following fighting in the Arab nation.

Production, mostly coming from oil fields off the coast of Libya, remains at the levels seen in 2013 on average, around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, she said.

A Libyan militia battling a rival armed group over control of the country's biggest airport is ready for a peaceful solution after five days of heavy fighting, a spokesman said on Thursday, hours after shells hit the terminal building.

(Reporting by Michel Rose; editing by Gus Trompiz)