Oman's oil output in the first two months of 2009 rose by 6.1 per cent on the year to 780,000 barrels per day (bpd), government data published on Saturday showed.

Oman sold its oil at an average price of $45.25 a barrel from January to February 2009, down 48 per cent on the price in the equivalent period the year earlier, the ministry of economy said in a bulletin.

Oman is a small independent oil producer but the price of its oil forms part of benchmarks used in pricing the 12 million barrels of crude that move from the Middle East to Asia daily.

Oman is targeting output of 800,000 bpd in 2009. Output from the country's ageing oilfields has been sliding for most of this decade.

The Gulf Arab state's natural gas output fell by 0.9 percent on the year to 170.867 billion cubic feet for the first two months of 2009.-Reuters