Oil production slowly starts up in Libya

Some of the onshore oil production facilities in the south of Libya survived the war unscathed and overall production should resume soon, Wintershall said. German energy company Wintershall owns a minority stake in Libyan production facilities. The company, in a statement, said offshore production is "up and running again" after national oil company Mabruk Oil started producing crude at the al-Jurf platform in the Mediterranean Sea. Wintershall said production from the offshore facilities should reach 40,000 barrels of crude oil per day "in just a few weeks." The company said it was making preparations to restart production in southern Libya, where facilities were shut down by war, at the end of February. "The facilities managed to survive the conflict in Libya unscathed," said Wintershall. The International Energy Agency in June called on its member states to release crude oil from their strategic reserves to offset Libyan production declines. Italian energy company ENI added that it restarted production at 15 oil wells in eastern Libya. At present, the company said, oil production is near 31,900 bpd. Libya, before the war, was producing around 1.3 million barrels per day.