Algeria signs $600 million worth of "hydrocarbon agreements"

Algeria’s national oil and natural gas company, Sonatrach, has signed five international agreements worth a total of $600 million covering hydrocarbon exploration activities in various regions of the country.

According to Algerian official news agency APS, the agreements in question were made within the scope of the "Algeria Bid Round 2024" tender in the capital Algiers, where Algeria opened its energy fields to investors.

The ceremony was attended by Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab; Minister of Knowledge Economy and Entrepreneurship, Nureddin Vadıh; Sonatrach General Manager, Rashid Hashishi; Algerian National Agency for the Assessment of Hydrocarbon Resources (ALNAFT) President, Semir Bahti; and representatives of relevant foreign energy companies.

Agreements worth $600 million covering five different exploration areas were signed through “participation” and “production sharing” models.

Sonatrach signed a contract with a consortium of Swiss Filada and Austrian Zangas for the “Toual 2” field, located in the Berkin basin between the Vurkla and Illizi provinces, and with Chinese Sinopec for the Karn el-Kussa 2 field, under a “participation” model.

Contracts were signed under a "production sharing" model with the Italian Eni and Thai PTTEP partnership at the Rakkan 2 field in the southern province of Adran, with the Chinese Zebec partnership at the Zerafa 2 field, and with the Qatari Qatar Energy and French Total Energies partnership at the Ahara field in the southeast of the country.

In June, ALNAFT announced that offers had been received for 5 of the 6 exploration sites opened within the framework of the “Algeria Bid Round 2024” and that exploration and operation licenses had been granted for these sites.

AA