RWE Dea, the natural gas and crude oil production unit of German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE), said Wednesday that political upheaval in some of the countries it is targeting for upstream operations is no reason to revise longer-term output targets.

The Hamburg-based company has been planning exploration works in Libya and since 2010 had also been eyeing upstream opportunities in the Ivory Coast , where a political dispute also erupted into violence in recent weeks.

Chief Executive Thomas Rappuhn said, however, that both countries' expected contributions for longer-term output are relatively small.

In Libya , RWE Dea has been preparing further exploration works, but isn't yet producing any oil or gas. The company had evacuated expatriate staff and their families when violence escalated in February.

In Ivory Coast the company is considering upstream opportunities, but so far isn't conducting exploration works and doesn't have staff there, Rappuhn said.

RWE Dea had previously said it expects to have doubled its annual oil and gas production to around 70 million barrels of oil equivalent by 2016, compared with 2010 levels.

By around 2020 it expects a further increase to up to 90 million barrels of oil equivalent.

CEO Rappuhn said Wednesday that the rise in production will initially come from new upstream projects in Europe . North African production--mainly in Egypt through the BP PLC (BP) operated West Nile Delta project--is expected to increase significantly from 2015.

For the longer-term RWE Dea is banking on possible projects in Trinidad & Tobago, western Africa, and possibly the Caspian region, Rappuhn said.

He added that Trinidad & Tobago is particularly interesting in terms of possible liquefied natural gas projects.

RWE Dea also reiterated its target to achieve EUR1 billion in operating profit by 2016. A further anticipated rise in operating profit thereafter wasn't further quantified.

In 2010 operating profit was EUR305 million, RWE Dea said, adding that higher oil prices will improve the result significantly this year.
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