UPDATE 2-Eni restarts its Libya oil production

* Eni producing 31,900 bopd at Abu Attifel field

* Aims to ramp up Libya output in coming days

* Saras welcomes news, could restart own ops by year-end

* Eni shares up 1.4 percent (Releads, adds comments from analyst, Saras chairman)

By Stephen Jewkes

MILAN, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Italy's Eni has restarted oil production in Libya as the group moves to consolidate its position as the dominant foreign oil operator in the country and bolster flagging volume.

The oil and gas group said in a statement on Monday it had restarted production in 15 Libyan wells in the Abu Attifel field, some 300 kilometres south of Benghazi.

Production at the field is around 31,900 barrels of oil per day, it said. That compares to pre-civil war daily output of around 70,000 barrels.

"The foreign operators already present are starting operations as fast as possible, proving their existing contracts are not at risk," a Milan-based oil industry specialist said.

Eni was the largest foreign oil producer in Libya before the civil war and is keen to mend relations with interim government leaders, after hesitant Italian support for the uprising in its early stages.

Some analysts have expressed concern Eni could lose assets or opportunities in the long run if Rome's lukewarm early support for the rebels triggers a backlash.

In Libya since 1959, Eni produced about 270,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2010. Its oil production contracts are in force until 2042 and gas contracts until 2047.

Eni's adjusted net profit in the second quarter of this year fell 14 percent, hit by oil and gas disruption in Libya.

Eni shares closed up 1.37 percent at 12.54 euros.

RAMPING UP PRODUCTION

Eni said on Monday that other wells in Abu Attifel would be reactivated in coming days to reach the volume required to fill the pipeline connecting the field to the Zuetina terminal.

"Things are clearly going better and faster than the pessimists thought," said Davide Tabarelli, head of energy think-tank Nomisma Energie.

In August, Eni Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said it would take six to 18 months to resume its oil production in Libya depending on the fields.

France's Total said on Friday production at its Al-Jurf offshore field in Libya had restarted, earlier than expected.

"There's a lot of potential in Libya and I believe we could be looking to go back not just to production levels before the war but to the levels of more than 3 million barrels per day we had before Gaddafi came to power," Tabarelli said.

Libya was producing 1.6 million barrels of oil per day before the uprising against leader Muammar Gaddafi began in February. The civil war caused foreign workers to flee and some oilfields and export terminals were damaged.

Last Thursday, a senior source in the National Oil Corporation told Reuters that Libya's oil production is set to reach 500,000 barrels per day by early October.

Italian oil refiner Saras welcomed the news of Eni's production resumption, and said it hoped to restart crude shipment operations with Libya before the end of the year.

Before the Libyan conflict began Saras sourced about 35 percent of its crude shipments from Libya.

Light sweet crude, easier to refine than other types and so difficult to replace, accounted for around 25 percent of Saras' Libyan shipments. Half of this came from the Abu Attifel field. (Additional reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters and David Hulmes)