“We are not producing. Everything is under repair. I can’t tell you a date to restart,” Agoco information manager Abdeljalil Mayouf said on Friday.
The official was speaking in response to a report in trade publication Petroleum Economist that repairs at the Sarir and Misla oil fields had been completed and oil production was imminent.
Before the war, Libya was Africa’s third-largest producer, pumping 1.6 million barrels per day, but production has since fallen to virtually zero because of infrastructure damage and international sanctions.
Mayouf declined to comment on the extent of damage to oil fields. Oil traders said they thought it was considerable and were not expecting a resumption of exports from the North African country in the near future.
“Fields and pipelines are still damaged significantly,” said a Mediterranean trader working for an oil firm active in the Libyan upstream business before the war.
A second oil trader said the state of the fields was worse than in April, when Agoco exported its first and only oil cargo from territory held by the rebel government. “Lots of repairs are needed before crude output resumes,” the trader said.
A Reuters poll of analysts and industry officials on Friday showed they expected Libyan oil production to bounce back to 1 million barrels per day in a matter of months if leader Muammar Gaddafi steps down.
But it will struggle to return to pre-war output in the foreseeable future, they said.