Angola plans to produce 1.630 million barrels of oil per day by the end of the year the country’s oil minister, Botelho de Vasconcelos said in Luanda cited by Angolan news agency Angop.

The minister said that as new oil fields started operating production would reach 2 million barrels of oil per day in 2015.

Angola’s oil exports fell by 9.6 percent between January and May of this year to 237.4 million barrels, the greatest drop since 2011. Average production in the first five months of 2014 stood at just less than 1.6 million barrels per day.

Tax revenues from Angolan oil exports fell to US$12.6 billion in the first five months of the year, according to figures from Angola’s Finance Ministry.

Diamonds

The sale of Angolan diamonds in June totalled US$117 million, which was a rise of 20 percent against May, according to figures form Angola’s Geology and Mining Ministry.

The ministry said Angola sold “over 780,000 carats” or an additional 156,000 carats compared to May.

According to the ministry the rise in sales was the result of a 32 percent increase in diamond production at the Catoca mines, which is considered to be one of the world’s largest diamond mines.

The rise in production led to a drop in prices from US$156 per carat in May to US$150 in June.