“The gas pipeline is back and running, supplying the pump stations and the Mellitah (gas processing) refinery. Gas will start flowing to Europe,” Bani told a news conference, without giving a timeframe for resumed shipments to Europe.

The 510 km GreenStream BV undersea pipeline system between Mellitah, just west of Tripoli, and Gela in Italy is 50 percent owned by Italian oil company ENI.

The pipeline, which supplied about 10 percent of Italy’s imports in 2010, was shut down in February shortly after the start of an uprising against Muammar Qaddafi.