Libya's western oil fields could resume production as early as Monday evening provided armed groups reopened valves on pipelines linking the fields to the export terminals, a senior Libyan oil official said on Monday.

After weekend negotiations, the Libyan government told state National Oil Corp (NOC) that they could expect the blocked pipeline to resume operations on Monday, the official at NOC said. It links the El Feel and El Sharara fields in the south to the ports of Mellitah and Zawiya.

"Our people are ready to restart production but we are still waiting for the valves to be reopened. We are waiting for confirmation," he said.

"It's supposed to start by the evening, but could happen at any time. This is what we were told by the people doing the negotiations." – Reuters