Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab said yesterday, Wednesday, that the state-owned company Sonatrach has made eight important oil and gas discoveries since last January.
Arkab added in an interview with Algerian official television that the new discoveries – which he described as “important” – were made by Sonatrach alone in completely new sites, the most important of which were in the states of Bashar (southwest), Ain Salah (central Sahara), Illizi, Djanet and Ouargla (southeast).
He pointed out that these discoveries “will provide a significant addition to the proven national reserves of hydrocarbons, especially natural gas.”
The minister pointed out that Sonatrach has placed huge capabilities in order to achieve these discoveries, without announcing the volume of production or its estimated reserves.
The Algerian official stressed that the investment climate in the country is “attractive,” and that the hydrocarbons law of 2019 included “global” measures that bore fruit through the conclusion of huge contracts with major companies, such as the Italian Eni, the Norwegian Equinor, and the American Occidental.
New development contracts
After the American ExxonMobil signed a memorandum of understanding last Thursday with Sonatrach to develop two gas fields, Arkab revealed that the other American giant – Chevron – will sign with Sonatrach within a few days a contract to develop a huge hydrocarbon reservoir, without providing additional details in particular.
Arkab said, “Algeria is a reliable country in terms of contracts, as well as the large quantities that are pumped into the European market.”
Figures about Algerian gas
Last Monday, Arkab stated that the first strategy of the state oil company, Sonatrach, is to raise production and reach 200 billion cubic meters of gas annually within 5 years.
According to Sonatrach’s 2023 data, Algeria’s natural gas production reached about 137 billion cubic meters.
In recent years, the Algerian authorities have found themselves facing a growing internal consumption of gas that reached about 50 billion cubic meters in 2023, and an increase in the quantities exported abroad by about 56 billion cubic meters in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian war that began in February 2022.
Algeria supplies Europe with gas through two pipelines, the first of which is “Transmed,” which connects it to Italy via the Mediterranean, passing through Tunisia, with a capacity of 32 billion cubic meters annually.
The second line is “Medgaz”, linking the town of Beni Saf on the western coast of the country to the city of Almeria in southern Spain, with an annual transport capacity of 10 billion cubic metres.
Last Thursday, Sonatrach signed a contract with two Italian and American companies to complete three gas processing plants to enhance production in the Hassi Rmel field (550 south of the capital), the largest in the country.
The project aims to continue extracting gas from the Hassi R’Mel field, which is the largest in the country and the African continent, in order to ensure that the production level is maintained at 188 million standard cubic meters per day.
