The chief executive of Italian giant Eni said the company expected to return to full capacity in Libya by June of next year.

“We see no reason to think we cannot return to full production capacity before June 2012…

we are already satisfied we have recouped 80% of production,” Paolo Scaroni said in an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore.

Eni is Libya’s largest foreign oil producer and Scaroni told Upstream earlier this month the company’s Libyan output was averaging about 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, more than two-thirds the pre-revolution level.

Eni’s expected timeline of returning to full capacity is in line with newly appointed Oil Minister Abdulrahman Ben Yazza, who has previously said Libya’s overall output was expected to reach pre-revolution levels during the second half of 2012.

Prior to the outbreak of civil unrest in the country earlier this year Libyan output averaged about 1.6 million barrels per day.

Scaroni also told the newspaper that the company is ready to consider selling its 50.3% stake in Italian gas transport company Snam Rete Gas.

“As far as Snam is concerned…we can imagine disinvesting, as long as we can get good value for the stake,” he told the newspaper.

Source: Upstream Online