French oil company to increase production in Qatar

The French minister of industry said on Tuesday that the French oil and gas company Elf Aquitaine working in Qatar proposed to increase its oil production in Qatar to 80,000 barrels from 30,000 barrels per day.

In a statement to reporters, the French minister said he discussed this matter with his Qatari counterpart, Abdullah Bin Hamad al-Atieh, who welcomed the proposal. The French minister added that Elf Aquitaine will be able to increase production promptly if the Qatari authorities approve the proposal.

Elf Aquitaine is operating the "Gulf" oil field, which is one of Qatar's sea oil fields explored by Elf Aquitaine in 1991, according to an accord providing for sharing production for 25 years with the Qatari general establishment for oil.