MUSCAT: Oman's oil output in the first two months of this year rose by 6.1 per cent on the year to 780,000 barrels per day (bpd), government data published yesterday showed.

Oman sold its oil at an average price of $45.25 a barrel from January to February this year, down 48pc on the price in the equivalent period the year earlier, the ministry of economy said in a bulletin.

Oman is a small independent oil producer but the price of its oil forms part of benchmarks used in pricing the 12 million barrels of crude that move from the Middle East to Asia daily.

Oman is targeting output of 800,000 bpd this year.

Output from the country's ageing oilfields has been sliding for most of this decade. The Gulf state's natural gas output fell by 0.9pc on the year to 170.867 billion cubic feet for the first two months of this year.