Crude oil production from government-controlled areas of Syria has averaged 17,000 b/d in the first half of 2014, or 4.4% of pre-war volumes of 385,000 b/d, the country’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Sulaiman al-‘Abbas said this week. This, according to government statistics, is down 11,000 b/d on output in the corresponding period last year.

Syrian gas production has also shrunk by half to 16.36mn cmd (578mn cfd) in 1H14 from about 30mn cmd (1,059mn cfd) in March 2011, when the upheaval started. (CONTINUED - 376 WORDS)