Net profits at Italy's Eni, the biggest foreign player in Libya's oil and gas sector, fell sharply in the first nine months of the year despite the company avoiding the worst of the disruption in the country.

Oil and gas minister Abdelbari al-Arusi says that oil production in Libya has fallen below 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), and that no deal has been made with protesters at the Sharara field.

Abdelbari al-Arusi says that production at the Sharara oil field, which was closed by local protests on 27 October, will resume "within 24 hours".

The head of Tobruq Local Council, Mohammed Yassin, says that crude exports from the Hariqa terminal are set to resume next week.

The Sharara oil field in south-west Libya, one of the country's largest, was forced to close on 27 October after local residents protested to demand better public services.

Armed protesters have reportedly disrupted crude export operations from the Mellitah terminal, one of the few oil ports in Libya still functioning.

Abdelbari al-Arusi recently held talks with South African and Algerian officials to discuss possible oil and gas supply agreements.

The Turkish Petroleum Overseas Company (TPOC) says it will not decide until 2016 whether its oil finds in the Murzuq Basin are commercially viable.

Efforts by US-based Marathon to sell its stake in Waha Oil have reportedly been blocked by the government.

Libya has not scheduled any crude exports for next month from the Brega port, which remains the only operating terminal in the east of the country.

The heads of local councils in eastern Libya say they will meet for the third time with Ibrahim Jadhran, the leader of a group that has taken over several key oil terminals, in a bid to resolve the impasse.

Italy's Eni says it cannot predict when the Wafa field, which closed in late September due to worker protests, will restart operations.

The National Oil Corporation (NOC) says that an oil discovery has been made in the Murzuq Basin of southwest Libya.

The chief executive of Italian energy firm Eni, Paolo Scaroni, says Libya is set to be the next oil and gas “paradise” and can become the “new Qatar or the new Kuwait”.

Libya’s Attorney General, Abdulqadir Radhwan, said he has not accused any official of paying bribes to open oil ports.