French oil giant Total  said it had restarted production from an offshore oil platform off Libya, making it the first major to return to work since the fall of Moamer Gaddhafi.

A company spokesman said production had restarted at the Al Jurf platform which lies around 100 km from western Libya's coast in the Mediterranean.

Earlier Total said production was set to resume over the weekend at Al Jurf, which Total operates in a joint venture with the Libyan state oil company and the German firm Wintershall.

The first oil exports should resume in around two weeks and it will likely take several weeks for production to reach full capacity, said the spokesman.

Before the uprising erupted against Gaddhafi's rule Al Jurf produced around 40,000 barrels per day.

Its operators shut it down in March as fighting raged across the country and the international community slapped sanctions on the regime's exports.

The European Union has now lifted its sanctions to allow Libya's new former rebel government to restart the country's most important export industry and begin the job of rebuilding.

Total said it would take 'a few weeks' before Al Jurf is back to full production. It is operated by Mabruk Oil, a joint venture 50 per cent owned by the National Oil Corporation, 37.5pc by Total and 12.5pc by Winstershall.

Before the war Libya produced around 1.6 million barrels of crude per day.

One local firm, Arabian Gulf Oil from the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi, restarted production 10 days ago, and other firms plan to do so.

Meanwhile, Libya has restarted its eastern gasfields to feed its large power plants on the Mediterranean, thus reducing the need for diesel after having spent billions of dollars on fuel imports during the seven months of civil war.

Energy firm Sirte Oil's chairman said gas output has resumed from the Hateiba and Assoumoud gasfields in eastern Libya and supplies were now flowing to coastal power plants.

'We have started producing and sending gas to the power plants of Benghazi and Zuetina. We even sent some power to Egypt the other day,' Fathi Issa said.