"We want to remove restrictions on management to provide more opportunity for development and for young people," Omar Shakmak said in an interview.
The minister said that individual companies would be required to submit quarterly reports for approval to the National Oil Corporation (NOC) but ultimately would be free to execute their own strategies.
"The NOC will be responsible for evaluating their plans, not implementing them," Shakmak continued.
But sales of Libya's prized low sulfur, or sweet, crude oil would remain in the hands of a single body, according to the minister. The decision to assign sales to a new marketing company or a single department within the National Oil Corporation was still under review, he said.
Benghazi-based Agoco would continue to honor contracts and obligations undertaken during the war, but ultimately control would be handed back to a centralized body once the agreements had expired, he said.
Shakmak did not expect the Ministry of Oil to take over any of the responsibilities involving strategy and planning currently held by the NOC.
He said the ministry was open to reviewing cases brought against the managers of oil companies who have been accused of supporting Qaddafi's regime during the war and using resources to supply loyalist fighters.
"The door is open for workers to report all the evidence they have," said Shakmak, adding that any documents would need to be reviewed as part of a wider investigation.
Over recent weeks workers at Waha Oil, Sirte Oil and the all-powerful NOC have organized demonstrations and are refusing to work until managers seen to have fought alongside Qaddafi - and benefited from his regime for decades - are removed.
"We must abide by legal processes. Otherwise, we would be no different from the previous system," he continued.
The minister confirmed that Libya was seeking to recover around $6 billion in unpaid bills by international oil firms for crude oil lifted between January and March, adding that it had been one of the first tasks assigned to a committee of experts at the NOC.
The new government in Libya had been accepted by all OPEC members, the minister said, adding that current production rates were still too low to merit talks.
Leading Gulf producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had stepped up output to make up for the loss of exports from fellow OPEC-member Libya.
"At the moment we are producing less than 350,000 barrels per day, and that's not a lot to talk about yet," said Shakmak.
The minister said the conditions of Spanish oil company Repsol's giant El Sharara field were unknown because it was still unsafe to inspect the area. France's Total and Austria's OMV also have shares in the field that pumped around 200,000 bpd before the war and is one of Libya's largest.
"As soon as we have clearance from the department of defense, we will send a team of engineers to assess the situation," he said.
