Tunisia’s oil production decreased by 8.6% to 9.48m barrels in mid July 2016, while that of natural gas fell from 12.8% to slightly over 1.2mcm, in the given period, Tap reported.

The Tunisian Energy and Mining Ministry issued a statement that the loss of primary energy was of 1.85mtoe in June, compared to the deficit of 1.98mtoe of June 2015, which is a 7% improvement, informed Agence Ecofin. The national resources of primary energy thus fell by 1.4% reaching 2.6mtoe in June.

The reasons behind these declines were due to the shutting of production for technical reasons, political unrest, and many oil fields reaching their maturity. For instance, the Chargui gas field in Kerkennah has been closed from early 2016.

Meanwhile, the domestic demand for primary energy has dropped by 4% to nearly 4.5mtoe in late June 2016, while gas consumption fell by 6% in most sectors.