TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The head of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) is no longer in the role at the state oil company, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The NOC runs the technical sector of oil and gas production, along with a number of smaller subsidiaries, in OPEC member Libya, which is the third largest oil producer in North Africa.

Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, Libya's oil production has been repeatedly hit by groups blocking facilities, sometimes to demand material benefits but also as a tactic to achieve wider political ends.

Reuters was not immediately able to establish the reason for the departure of Bengdara, who was appointed in July 2022 to replace veteran NOC chief Mustafa Sanallah. Reuters was not immediately able to contact Bengdara for comment.

A Government of National Unity (GNU) minister and an NOC official said GNU head Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah had appointed Masoud Sulaiman as the new NOC chief until the formation of a new board of directors at the next cabinet meeting.

Oil prices fell on Thursday, with Yemen's Houthi militia expected to halt attacks on ships in the Red Sea, and investors weighed strong U.S. retail data.

(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli, Yomna Ehab in Cairo, Hani Amara, and Ayman Al-Warfali in Benghazi: Editing by Mark Potter and Alexander Smith)