Sonatrach Confronts Oil Crisis By Raising Production

Hydrocarbons sector recorded an increase in production which is estimated at 3.3% during the first four months of 2016, compared with the same period of 2015, according to The National Office of Statistics.

This rise comes after the successive declines that were recorded in 2015 by 1.7% during the first four months, compared with the same period of 2014, when it declined by 2%, while the production in the hydrocarbons sector noticed, during 2015 a drop of 1.3%, compared with the previous year.

But the remarkable growth in the production sector during the first months of 2016 was particularly due to the activity of diluting natural gas, which recorded a growth rate of 5.21% compared with the first four months of 2015. 

During 2015, this activity was slow at 4.5% compared with the first four months of 2014, and with an increase of 10.2% in the second four months of 2015. 

With regard to crude oil refining, it has recorded an increase by 5% during the first four months of 2016. 

According to reports that were published by APS on Sunday, the year 2015 noticed a decline by 4.2% in production, unlike the activities of diluting natural gas and refining the crude oil, the decline in oil and natural gas production reached 0.5% during the first four months of this year. 

However, this decline was less than in previous months, as the production of crude oil and natural gas declined in 2015 by 2.9% compared with the year 2014.