Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) is to resume crude exports from the port of Hariga after imposing a force majeure a week ago.

The restrictions were lifted on Monday, NOC said.

The halt to tanker loadings began on 19 April over a lack of funds from the state.

But NOC said the war-torn country's government of national unity had responded rapidly to its concerns, and the state company's subsidiaries can now pay invoices to suppliers again after new financing of $232m was agreed.

Gradual restart

NOC said any technical problems will be addressed and oil production gradually resumed.

Hariga can load 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude. The force majeure removed the equivalent of a suezmax cargo every four days.

The financing trouble had pushed output below 1m barrels per day in Libya.

NOC unit Agoco, which runs Hariga, had to close down fields at Sarir, el-Bayda, Hamada, Mesla, Nafoora and Majid, which have a total capacity of 280,000 bpd.

Industry sources told S&P Global that production from the fields was likely to come back online in the coming days.

But the output recovery could remain volatile. There are concerns the Petroleum Facilities Guard group might block the Es Sider export terminal due to a long-running dispute over "field allowances".

March total highest for eight years

Libya pumped 1.19m bpd in March, its highest total since June 2013, according to the monthly S&P Global Platts Opec survey.

S&P Global Platts Analytics said in a note: "With clear budget and technical issues, risks are growing to our supply forecast through year-end of 1.2m bpd, let alone NOC's target of 1.45m bpd."

Agoco had not received money from the Central Bank of Libya since September last year.

NOC had said daily lost income "may exceed" $26m from the shutdown.

Libya has Africa's largest proven reserves of oil. The main Es Sider and Sharara export crudes are in demand in Europe.

The country was beginning to ramp up production and exports after 2020 saw major disruption due to port blockades during the civil war. A ceasefire has now been agreed.