News: OSH UPDATE 1-Oil Search resumes operations at PNG Agogo production facility

(Adds details, reaffirmed guidance, background)

Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australia's Oil Search Ltd (OSH) said on Wednesday it has resumed operations at the Agogo Production Facility which was knocked out by a major earthquake in Papua New Guinea in February.

Production has begun at an initial rate of about 2,000 barrels of oil per day (gross), Oil Search said.

The restart of operations at Agogo has brought all Oil Search-operated facilities back online, the company added.

Oil Search said the impact of the facility's closure is included in its 2018 production guidance, which it maintained at towards the upper end of 23–26 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Lower output at a key liquefied natural gas project (LNG) in Papua New Guinea, the PNG LNG project, led to an 18 percent fall in Oil Search's first-half revenue after it was also damaged in the quake.

ExxonMobil Corp XOM.N holds a 33.2 percent stake in PNG LNG, while Oil Search has a 29 percent interest. Two PNG government-linked entities and Australia's Santos Ltd (STO) hold smaller stakes.