Tunisia plans to double its natural gas production to 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), up from the current production level of 35,000 boe/d, the Industry and Energy Minister Slim Feriani told Reuters on January 18.

The country will be able to achieve its target of doubling the production by June 2019, Feriani said.

“We will raise our production by about 30,000 boe/d when the Nawara project in the south starts,” Feriani added.

The $700-million project will be jointly owned by Austria’s OMV and Tunisian national oil company ETAP.