ALGIERS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Algeria exported 97 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2023, up 3.5 percent from the previous year, the state-owned APS news agency said on Tuesday.

       The North African country produced 194 million tonnes of oil equivalent last year, the APS quoted Miloud Medjelled, the director general of prospection at the Algerian Ministry of Energy and Mining, as saying.

       Natural gas output rose from 132.7 billion cubic meters in 2022 to more than 136 billion cubic meters in 2023, accounting for about two-thirds of the country's production of oil equivalent, said the official.

       He also forecast a 1.4 percent annual increase in natural gas production until 2028, according to the APS.