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* Hundreds of men sent to southwestern Libya to boostsecurity
* Italy's Eni, Spain's Repsol operate in area
* Oil force still lacking proper equipment, training
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
TRIPOLI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Libya has strengthened its oilprotection force in southwestern oilfields near the Algerianborder after the In Amenas attack in its neighbour.
In an interview with Reuters, Colonel Ali Elahrash, head ofLibya's Petroleum Faculty Guard, said men from the WesternMountain town of Zintan had been sent in as reinforcements toboost border security as well to oilfields in the area.
Last week's raid on the Algerian desert plant, about 100 km(60 miles) from the Libyan border pushed Saharan militancy tothe top of the global agenda.
Libyan oilfields, like Italy's Eni's El Feel andSpain's Repsol's Sharara, are several hundred miles away.
Oil force members on leave swiftly returned to work, whileother former rebel fighters from Zintan - whose men alreadyguards oil fields in the area - were also despatched.
"As soon as we heard about what happened in Algeria we uppedthe level of security, especially in the area close to theborder," Elahrash said at his office in the Libyan capital.
"Most of the forces have been sent to the border, they aredoing a lot of patrols which is helpful for protecting the oilfields; support has also been sent to the fields. We think thereare enough forces and enough equipment to protect the area."
Walid Hassan Mohammed, director of public relations, saidhundreds of men were sent; while the force usually deploys 50 to100 men at fields there, it now had at least 100 at the sites.
The 15,000 strong Petroleum Faculty Guard, the majority madeup of former rebel fighters from the 2011 war that oustedMuammar Gaddafi, is divided into five branches across thecountry.
The southwestern area - which looks after the El Feel,Sharara and other oilfields - comes under the Zintan branch.
An operations room has been set up in Zintan and Tripoli.
"They may not have the experience because many of them arenot from the army, they are rebel fighters but they want toprotect their country," Elahrash said.
NEW EQUIPMENT NEEDED
OPEC members Libya and Algeria are Africa's third and fourthlargest oil producers with Libya also holding the largest oilreserves on the continent.
A foreign worker close to the Libyan-Algerian border said hehad seen more pick-ups mounted with anti-aircraft guns and aboosting of man power in the last few days.
"Pretty much everyone was on essential expat manning priorto the (In Amenas) incident, due to the instability across thecountry and there doesn't seem to have been any radical changesince last week," he said.
Mohammed said embassies with workers in the area had been intouch with the force over security in the last few days.
Eni is boosting its security in North Africa, a sourcefamiliar with the matter said, while another added it had notconsidered repatriation of its foreign staff at El Feel.
BP, which had staff at In Amenas and also hasexploration rights in western Libya, has a few expatriate staffin Tripoli and fewer than 100 local staff, a spokesman said.
"We are reviewing security across the region," he said.
While the return of foreign oil companies to Libya helped itclimb back up close to pre-war output of 1.6 million barrels perday, the full return of expatriate workers has been slow to thecountry, awash with weapons, because of precarious security.
Elahrash said movement outside a desert camp or oilfield hasto be accompanied by members of the oil protection force.
"Everyone knows that protecting the oilfields is somethingvery important - the foreign oil companies would not work hereunless the security was good," he said. "No local or foreigncompany has received a single threat ... The security conditionsof all the companies working in oilfields are very good."
However the force admits it does not have the equipment itneeds: proper communications, night vision equipment or cars forthe desert. Instead, the guard, of which 2,000 are army-trained,use medium to light weapons left over from the war.
"We are missing technology and new materials but at the sametime we are able to protect all these areas in fields with theold equipment we already have," Elahrash said, adding thetraining the guards still lacked could begin in March.
"They must learn how to work in oilfields, how to securethem," he said, adding about 3,500 men had already been trained.
The men signed contracts with the force, which has a budgetfrom the National Oil Corporation to pay salaries, which startat 1,000 ($770) Libyan dinars a month and reach 1,600 dinars.
Asked what message he could give to worried foreign oilcompanies, Elahrash said: "The Libyan nation can protect all theforeigners who work on its land."
