Libyan oil production rebound slow

TRIPOLI, Libya, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- While parts of the Libyan oil system are returning to production, there are still pieces of the puzzle missing, a European crude oil trader said.

Libyan oil production dropped to 200,000 barrels per day earlier this year because of protests and labor strikes across the energy sector. Before civil war in 2011, Libya was producing approximately 1.6 million barrels per day at its peak.

The government announced the mid-September restart of the Sharara and el-Fil fields meant crude oil started reaching the Zawiya export terminal for the first time in nearly a month.

With a capacity of 230,000 bpd, Zawiya is Libya's second-largest export terminal. A European trader told energy news website Platts the oil sector still had a ways to go before it resembles some form of normalcy.

"It seems that in some way, the mechanism is restarting, but only partially," the source was quoted as saying Tuesday.

Service was returned to Zawiya and the nearby Mellitah terminal last week. Five terminals in the east of the country remain shuttered. Those five terminals, Platts reports, account for at least 740,000 barrels per day of export capacity.