A new oil and gas field has been discovered in western Libya, the authorities said Thursday.

Algerian oil company Sonatrach Consortium found the field in Ghadames Basin, about 650 km southwest of Tripoli, Oil and Gas Minister Abdulbari al-Arusi said in a statement.

Preliminary exploration showed that the new field has a capacity of 8,200 barrels of crude oil and 1,700 cubic meters of gas per day, al-Arroussi said.

Sonatrach resumed exploratory operations in Libya in June 2012, following a suspension for more than a year due to security concerns caused by the February 2011 uprising.

Libya, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has Africa's largest oil reserves and produced more than 1.6 million barrels per day before the conflict.

Its oil production came to a virtual standstill by the summer of 2011 and bounced back to about 1.34 million barrels per day in January 2013, according to official data.

With the oil sector the mainstay of the economy, Libya aims to increase its oil production to 1.8 million barrels per day in 2013, even though security in the North African country remains precarious.