Oil production is finally being ramped up at a number of fields that were not damged during six months of fighting between rebels and forces loyal to ousted leader Moammar Qadhafi.
Platts estimates that current output in Libya at over 350,000 bpd. Production from the Abu Attifel oil field, which resumed at a rate of 31,900 bpd at the end of September, has risen to 63,500 bpd, an official at the Mellitah Oil Company said.
Joint venture
Mellitah, a subsidiary of the National Oil Company, operates the field in joint venture with Italy's Eni, the largest foreign oil operator in Libya. "Today's production from Abu Attifel field out of 47 wells is 63,500 barrels of Abu Attifel crude. We are expecting to reach 70,000 barrels in a few days," Mustafa Abougfeefa, Production & Maintenance Manager at Mellitah Oil & Gas, said.
Abougfeefa and other Mellitah oil company officials said they hoped to bring on new production from the Sabratha platform and the Bouri oil fields by the middle and end of October.
"There seem to be no technical problems at the wellhead, and production is expected to resume as scheduled ... We have no problems with the fields we're producing from," Abugfeefa said.
Operational fields
The fields that are currently operational in Libya are the main eastern Libyan oil fields of Sarir, Mesla ; Nafoora, Hamadi, Beida cluster of fields operated by the Arabian Gulf Oil Company ; Total's offshore Al-Jurf oil field. Agoco sources say Sarir is currently producing 200,000 bpd, Mesla 60,000 bpd and Nafoora/Hamada/Beida at 130,000 bpd.
Total, which resumed output from Al-Jurf on September 25, is increasing production gradually to targeted capacity of 40,000 bpd. Current production from Al-Jurf is not known.
Al Jurf is operated by Mabruk Oil Operations, a Libyan state entity owned by the National Oil Company with a 50 per cent stake, Total with 37.5 per cent and Wintershall with a 12.5 per cent stake.
