ALRAR, Algeria- Output at Algeria's Alrar gas field close to its border with Libya has risen to 24.7 from 16 million cubic metres per day following an extension of the field, the head of state energy firm Sonatrach said on Monday.

CEO Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, who was officially inaugurating the field extension, is pushing to raise output at ageing gas fields as part of an effort to boost Algeria's revenue from hydrocarbons production.

A number of gas projects, most of which are expansions of existing fields, have come online in 2017 and 2018, including at fields in Reggane and Timimoun.

The cost of the extension at Alrar, completed with the help of foreign firms Petrofac and Bonatti, was 64 billion Algerian dinars ($545 million).

Algeria, a supplier of gas to Europe, produced 135 billion cubic metres of gas in 2017.

In recent years it has struggled to attract investment to help develop new fields and increase existing production.

($1 = 117.4409 Algerian dinars)

(Writing by Aidan Lewis; editing by Jason Neely) ((Aidan.Lewis@tr.com; +216-29850352;))