(Ecofin Agency) - For the first time since late last year, an oil tanker loaded crude export cargo at Libya’s Zueitina oil terminal, a port official revealed.

According to the port official, the Ionic Anassa oil tanker loaded 800,000 barrels of oil for export to China.

Zueitina is one of the three formerly blocked ports that reopened in September, following the seizure of the terminals by Dignity Operation forces led by Khalifa Haftar.

The reopening of the Zueitina, Ras Lanuf and Es Sider ports has helped in boosting Libya’s oil production, which was reduced to a quarter of the 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) being produced before the 2011 uprising.

Zueitina had been closed since early November 2015, while the Ras Lanuf and Es Sider ports have been shut since December 2014. Exports have restarted at Ras Lanuf but not yet at Es Sider, which was badly damaged in fighting.

An oil official has said that national production is between 505,000 bpd and 510,000 bpd, a slight increase from the levels recorded at the start of this week.

Before the new developments at the ports, Libya’s production had been between 200,000 and 300,000 bpd, Libyan Express reports.

Haftar’s forces have vowed to leave the ports in control of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli. The NOC intends to boost production to 900,000 bpd by the end of this year, but had said that the achievement of this goal is subject to the availability of funds for operating costs as well as the reopening of blocked pipelines in western Libya.

Anita Fatunji