In an interview, Ali Tarhouni said he had received a phone call the previous evening saying the huge El Sharara oil field operated by Spanish firm Repsol was ready to restart and he expected it to resume pumping within days. It produces 200,000 bpd.
“Within less than a year we will be up to 1 million barrels. I am very confident of that,” Tarhouni said.
Libya is struggling to resume oil production, which forms the overwhelming bulk of its economy but was largely halted for the past eight months by its civil war. The country produced about 1.8 million bpd during peace time.
The oil minister said current production was at 400,000 bpd and the rapid recovery was owed to the bravery and skill of Libyan workers, some of whom had given their lives to protect and repair the oil fields.
“We have a lot of patriots,” the minister said.
The minister promised to scrutinize all oil deals agreed during the rule of deposed leader Muammar Qaddafi and would publish evidence of corruption, including documents.
“One of the things I promise ... is that we will practice transparency, not talk about it,” Tarhouni said.
Industry sources have long anticipated an investigation of oil deals by the new rulers in Libya, which may lead to a reallocation of some contracts to reward countries which supported the uprising against Qaddafi.
Foreign players account for almost half a million bpd of oil output in Libya and imported 1.3 million bpd of crude before the war.
The minister said evidence of illegal activity had been found and corruption in the oil sector had been widespread.
“I have some evidence here but ... I will leave that until we have the final picture. Unfortunately there was a lot of corruption in the oil sector,” he said.
He said Libyans had the right to know what had happened in the past and efforts would be made to hold any oil company found guilty of corruption during Qaddafi’s era accountable.
“Anyone who did something not legal or right — if we find proof, of course — we will do that (bring them to justice). That’s what transparency is,” he said.
The structure of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and the ministry of oil would have to change, but it was too early to discuss what changes needed to be made to make the sector more efficient, he said.
