Both oil fields, Mabruk 1 and Durwazah 1, lie southeast of Saudi Arabia"s Al-Ghawar field, the largest oil field in the world, Nuaimi said in a statement.

The Mabruk 1 field will produce 5,600 barrels of heavy crude and 2 million cubic feet (56,634 cubic meters) of natural gas per day, said the statement, adding that the Durwazah 1 field will produce 5,569 barrels of light crude and 2.8 million cubic feet (79,287 cubic meters) of natural gas per day.

Nuaimi said the two oil fields" daily output of crude and natural gas are expected to exceed the figures under normal conditions for production.

Saudi Arabia, the world"s largest oil producer, has an oil reserve of more than 264 billion barrels, a quarter of the global total.

The country also has a natural gas reserve of about 6.6 trillion cubic meters, the forth largest in the world.

Riyadh has planned to raise the daily output of crude to 12.5 million barrels by the year 2010 to meet the increasing demand around the world.

PIN/Xinhua