London (Platts)--23Feb2015/959 am EST/1459 GMT

Libya's crippled oil sector received two boosts on Monday after state-owned National Oil Corp said its Agoco unit had restarted production at the Sarir field in the east of the country and loadings from the idled port of Zueitina resumed.

An NOC spokesman said Monday "limited quantities" of Sarir crude had begun flowing to the port of Marsa el-Hariga over the weekend.

Sarir, which had been producing around 185,000 b/d, was restarted after repairs were carried out to a pipeline linking it to the export terminal.

The pipeline attack by saboteurs brought the country's remaining onshore oil production almost to a complete standstill.

Production had already fallen to around 350,000 b/d in early 2014 -- less than one third of the country's capacity of around 1.5 million b/d -- due to fighting near key oil infrastructure and attacks on fields, terminals and pipelines.

ZUEITINA LOADINGS

The fighting around the terminals of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf prompted their closure, while Zueitina a little further to the east had halted loadings due to a lack of crude.

Traders and shipping sources said Monday a cargo was loading at the port, the first for eight months, though it was unclear whether it was crude from storage or from new production.

They said the Agrari, which is an Aframax managed by Cardiff Marine, is believed to be the ship which is loading the cargo. The ship manager was not immediately available for comment.

"The Agrari is currently loading at Zueitina, and we believe the lifter is OMV. The oil is coming from production, not storage," said a local port agent.

"There is a cargo reportedly loading Amna [grade] from Zueitina," another trader said.

The agent also said that exports from Marsa el-Hariga were likely to resume in the coming days. "Hariga is fine. The port is open and production has resumed."

'CHANGING BY THE MINUTE'

Germany's Wintershall said in late December that its onshore oil production in Libya was subject to temporary fluctuations including the fact that it was not possible to load at Zueitina.

As a result, Wintershall was only producing a reduced amount of oil into its own export tanks.

Traders are still unclear as to the status of much of Libya's oil infrastructure given the political and civil unrest in the country.

"I don't think that things are improving. Everything can change so abruptly," one said Monday.

"It's hard for me to say conclusively what will happen in Libya in the future. It changes by the minute, but there is more loading now than before.

"It's a question whether or not it sustains itself."

--Staff, newsdesk@platts.com
--Edited by Jonathan Dart, jonathan.dart@platts.com

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