Total oil reserves of members of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) amounted to 710 billion barrels, accounting for 55.6 per cent of the world's total reserves, in early 2017, a top official said.

Total gas reserves held by the eleven members of the organisation stand at 54 trillion cu m, or 27.7 per cent of the world's total reserves, Turki Hasan Al Hamash, an expert at OAPEC's Department of Technical Affairs, was quoted by Emirates official news agency Wam, which cited Kuwait News Agency.

Average daily crude oil and natural gas production in the eleven Arab countries exceeded 25 million barrels per day by the end of 2016, he said, while noting that in 2015, Arab producers sold more than 575 billion cu m of natural gas.

The statements came during OAPEC's 24rd Forum on Fundamentals of Oil and Gas Industry, which began today in Kuwait.

The eleven members of the regional inter-governmental organisation established in 1968 are the UAE, Bahrain, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, Tunis, Libya and Egypt.