A state oil firm loyal to Libya’s official government based in the east of the country has invited foreign oil firms to discuss existing oil purchase contracts at a conference in Dubai next month, it said in a statement.

The move is a fresh attempt by Libya’s internationally recognised government to control state oil firm NOC, which is at the centre of a conflict between two rival administrations four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.

The eastern government, which lost the capital Tripoli a year ago to a rival administration, has set up a new oil entity, which it calls NOC east, based in the city of Benghazi, but oil buyers still only deal with the established state firm NOC based in Tripoli, which has processed oil sales for decades.

The new NOC east wants to "discuss legally signed agreements and contracts" with foreign oil buyers and service firms at a conference in Dubai on September 2, it said in the statement, which it released jointly with the official government.