# RSF says it has seized Heglig oilfield as Sudan war spreads south
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said on the event date that it had taken control of Heglig, Sudan’s largest oilfield, in South Kordofan province. Later, the Sudanese Armed Forces issued a statement saying it had withdrawn from the area, lending support to the claim that the strategic site had changed hands.
Heglig matters far beyond the battlefield. It is Sudan’s biggest oil field and the main processing facility for neighbouring South Sudan’s oil exports, which makes the site a crucial source of revenue and a sensitive piece of regional infrastructure. The RSF framed the takeover as part of a wider push eastward and southward from Darfur, a region it said it had brought fully under control only last month. The army’s withdrawal, according to an army source quoted by AFP, was intended to protect the facilities and prevent damage.
The takeover is also significant because it fits into a broader pattern of RSF advances. The group has been moving into central and southern parts of Sudan, including fighting around Babnusa in West Kordofan, which sits on a route toward Darfur. The Heglig area lies at the southern edge of Kordofan and is close to other resources, including gold and additional oil deposits, making it a useful economic and logistical prize as well as a military one.
Local administration linked to the RSF said its forces had been prepared specifically to secure the field and protect the installations from sabotage. That language suggests the paramilitary leadership wants to present itself not simply as a conquering force, but as a power capable of running strategic assets. Still, the account also points to evacuations and closures. An unnamed engineer told AFP that soldiers and workers were moved into South Sudan, while the processing plant near the field was shut down.
The fight over Heglig also highlights how the civil war has become a contest over geography and future leverage. The RSF’s eastward push creates a potential route toward Khartoum, from which the army pushed it out earlier this year, and it could give the group access to major agricultural and energy-rich regions. In a conflict that has increasingly mixed military, economic and territorial objectives, the oilfield is not just another captured post. It is an asset that could affect how long the war lasts and how much each side can finance its next move.
Sudan’s war, which began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million, according to the United Nations. About 30 million people now need humanitarian aid. The Heglig episode does not change those broad numbers, but it does show how the conflict continues to shift toward valuable infrastructure, where the damage can spread beyond the front line.
