(Ecofin Agency) - In Libya, Waha Oil Co has said that its production has reached over 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) through the Waha and Samah fields and it is expected to increase further once the Jalu field comes online.

Output at the Waha field, resumed last month after several blocked ports were reopened and exports from the field, is being directed through the Ras Lanuf terminal, while renovation works are being carried out at the Es Sider terminal. Both ports were damaged by fighting.

Production has been crippled for years by an on and off blockade of the Libya’s largest export terminals, militant attacks by groups including Islamic State and the lack of a united government. According to Waha Oil Co, it expected output to increase when work at the port and pipelines from Jalu field to the Waha field was completed. The company however did not say when that might happen.

The Waha field has a production capacity of 100,000 to 120,000 bpd. An engineer at the smaller Samah field said it was currently producing about 7,000 bpd, Reuters reports.

Ever since the reopening of the oil terminals in September, Libya's national oil production has increased to around 600,000 bpd, even though it remains below the 1.6 million bpd produced before the 2011 uprising.

Anita Fatunji