Italian oil and gas major Eni’s production in Libya is currently running at 242,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day, Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said on Monday. “In Libya we are producing 242,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, numbers we have not seen for many months,” Scaroni said at a meeting. Eni, in Libya since 1959, is the biggest foreign oil producer in the country.

It had daily production there of around 272,000 barrels per day before a 2011 uprising threw the country into turmoil. The state-controlled oil major has seen output drop sharply as oilfields and ports have been closed during a prolonged stand-off between the government in Tripoli and former militias.

Scaroni told reporters the Wafa field in the west of Libya had restarted and that the Mellitah complex was working well. “We are still stopped in the east of the country but that’s only a small thing for us,” Scaroni said. Before the uprising against autocratic leader Muammar Gaddafi, Libya used to produce around 23 percent of Italy’s foreign oil imports.

Source: Reuters & Rigzone