Production Restarts At Giant Repsol Oil Field In Libya-Official

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2011

By Benoit Faucon

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LONDON (Dow Jones)--A giant Libyan oil field partly owned by Repsol YPF SA (REP.MC) has restarted production after an eight-month shutdown, a local oil official said Tuesday.

The southern desert operation is the latest to resume after the death of Col. Moammar Gadhafi lifted a cloud over security concerns in the war-torn nation.

Speaking to Dow Jones Newswires, Abderrauf Elhabroush, a Tripoli representative of the Feb. 17 Coalition for oil and gas, said the Sharara field "is producing 70,000 barrels a day and [staff] is planning to rise to 100,000 barrels a day soon."

Repsol didn't return a request to comment.

The field suffered minor damage to facilities such as air conditioning, said Elhabroush. The Coalition is a volunteers' group of oil and gas workers set up to coordinate the resumptions after the war.

Sharara, which was producing over 200,000 barrels a day before the war, is operated by Akakus Oil Operations. Foreign partners also include OMV AG (OMV.VI) and Total SA (TOT).

-By Benoit Faucon, Dow Jones Newswires; +44-20-7842-9266; benoit.faucon@dowjones.com

(Ilan Brat in Madrid contributed to this report.)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

25-10-11 1043GMT