MILAN: Restarting oil production in Libya may take from six to 18 months, but gas exports could resume more quickly, the head of Italian energy group ENI said Thursday.

“To reactivate the refineries it will take time,” ENI chief executive Paolo Scaroni said following the meeting in Milan of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Libyan National Transitional Council number two Mahmud Jibril.

“It depends on the oil wells, but in my opinion we should expect between six and 18 months because first you have to re-establish security,” said Scaroni, who attended the meeting of the two leaders.

“Our priority is to restart gas production because the idea of facing this winter with one of our traditional suppliers at a halt doesn't please us at all,” he told the media.

The ENI chief said Italy can easily replace Libyan natural gas that accounts for roughly 10-12 percent of the country's consumption, but this does not provide the security of supplies via the Greenstream pipeline from Libya.

ENI, the largest foreign oil company in Libya before the uprising, will sign an agreement on Monday in Benghazi with the rebel administration “to supply large quantities of gas and petrol to the population free of charge” said Scaroni.

The energy from Italian refineries is actually to be given in exchange for “a future payment in oil” from Libya's fields, he added.

All ENI production in Libya is currently suspended, apart from the Wafa field, 500 kilometres (300 miles) from Tripoli, which supplies electricity to the local population.

ENI has been present in Libya since the 1950s and was the country's biggest foreign energy operator before the conflict broke out, employing 2000 people in plants that produced around 15 percent of the company's total output.

Around 85 percent of Libyan oil output was exported to Europe until the revolt slashed the country's production six months ago.

Europe's refiners have struggled to replace Libya's highly valued light crude, sending prices soaring in the first six months of the year.