Tunisia will almost double production of natural gas to about 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day this year, the industry and energy minister, Slim Feriani, told Reuters on Jan. 18.

The country’s gas output will jump from 35,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day when the southern Nawara gas field comes onstream in June, Feriani said.

“We will raise our production by about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent when the Nawara project in the south will start,” Feriani told Reuters in interview.

This project will be jointly owned by Austria’s OMV and Tunisian National Oil Company ETAP with investments of about $700 million.

Feriani also said Tunisia was seeking to attract about $2 billion in foreign investment to produce 1,900 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy in three years. "We will start launching international bids for the production of renewable wind and sun energy. We aim to produce 1,900 MW by investment of up to $2 billion until 2022," he said.

This would represent about 22% of the country’s electricity production.