Canada 's Verenex oil company has discovered new petroleum deposits in Libya 's Ghadames basin around 250 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of Tripoli, Libya 's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Monday.

Results from a test well sunk in Bloc 47 revealed deposits of an estimated 2,500 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 2.41 square metres of gas at a depth of nearly 10,000 feet, the NOC said.

On October 25, Verenex found another oilfield in the Ghadames basin, also with an estimated production of 2,500 barrels a day, with Verenex owning 13.7 percent and the rest held by NOC.

Libya's current output is 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) and it has estimated reserves of 42 billion barrels. It aims to reach a production level of three million bpd in 2010.

[AFP]