TIRANA, Sept. 2 – More than a third of oil produced in Albania during the first half of this year was sold in the domestic market, data published by the National Agency for Natural Resources shows.
The situation was fuelled by a sharp cut in international oil prices forcing many of the companies operating in the country to reduce production and increase sales to the domestic market after being processed by local refiners.
The six companies engaged in oil extraction in Albania produced a total of 654,000 tommes in the first half of this year, 37 percent of which was sold in the local market.
Canada-based Bankers Petroleum, which operates the Patos-Marinza heavy oilfield and is the country’s biggest foreign investor, is the most important operator accounting for almost 90 percent of total oil produced in the country.
Meanwhile, state-run Albpetrol company, which is scheduled for privatization and supervises concession deals, produced only 23,000 tonnes of oil, or 3.5 percent of the total, in the first half of this year.
