Tunisia’s crude output averaged just 39,800 b/d for the first four months of 2018, little more than 40% of the country’s 95,000 b/d demand. Whilst output was slightly higher than the average figure for 2017 this was only ‘thanks’ to the massive series of strikes and sit-ins which crippled output last summer (MEES, 2 June 2017): output for 2017 as a whole, at 38,700 b/d was the lowest since 1966, Tunisia’s virgin year of oil production.
A comparison of the first four months of 2018 with the same period a year earlier offers a clearer picture of the underlying state of play. And the picture is not a positive one: oil output is down by 10% overall, with output falling in each of the key producing regions (see chart). (CONTINUED - 1345 WORDS)
