Australian oil output slumps to 40-year low

摘要

Sydney-Australia has slumped to its lowest annual crude oil production in more than four decades at 71.9 million barrels or 197,000 b/d in 2013. Output for 2013 was down 18.6% from the level seen in 2012 and the lowest level since 1970, when Australia produced just 65 million barrels of oil, local consultancy Energy- Quest said Thursday. Australia's crude oil pro- duction peaked in 2000 on the back of output from offshore fields in the Bass Strait and Western Australia, but has been on a steady decline this century due to natural depletion and a lack of new discoveries.