RSF seizes key Heglig oilfield as it pushes to expand control in Sudan

Heglig is Sudan’s largest oil field and also the main processing facility for neighbouring South Sudan’s oil exports.

8 Dec 2025

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) says it has seized control of the strategic Heglig oilfield in Sudan’s South Kordofan province.

The claim early on Monday was supported later by a statement issued by the military government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) saying it had withdrawn from the area. The takeover comes as the RSF, embroiled in a two-and-a-half-year conflict with the SAF, pushes to expand eastwards and southwards from the western Darfur region, over which it took full control last month.

Youssef Alian, the head of the RSF-affiliated “civil administration” in the where the oilfield is situated, asserted in a statement that the takeover happened under his coordination.

He said that he had helped “prepare a special, qualified and trained force … to secure the Heglig field and protect oil installations from any acts of sabotage or threats that may affect their safety”.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/8/rsf-claims-seizure-of-key-heglig-oil-field-in-sudan