Reaffirming Algeria’s reliability as an exporter of natural gas to Europe and Asia, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, expressed the determination of the Algerian authorities to continue their efforts to supply abundantly their partners.
Sonatrach’s efforts have made it possible to make eight very important hydrocarbon discoveries in 2024, on new sites in Algeria according to the Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, who specified that these discoveries concerned “new deposits located in Béchar, south of In Salah, north of Djanet, south of Illizi and north of Ouargla.
“We have made major discoveries since the beginning of this year until the end of last week of May, very important discoveries, eight in number, which will make it possible to strengthen national hydrocarbon reserves, particularly in regarding natural gas,” the minister revealed last Wednesday, in a statement on public television.
Mohamed Arkab also announced the signing of an important agreement between Sonatrach and the hydrocarbon giant “Chevron” in the “coming days”, which will make it possible to “develop a large deposit” and increase national production of hydrocarbons, after the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding between Sonatrach and “ExxonMobil” which will be crowned by “development contracts before the end of the year and will contribute to the strengthening of natural gas production in Algeria”.
In this regard, he recalled that Sonatrach had previously signed, within the framework of the hydrocarbons law which came into force in 2020, with the largest global companies such as the Norwegian companies “Equinor”, Italian “Eni” and American “Occidental Petroleum”, “important” contracts in the field of exploitation, refining and production of hydrocarbons.
Access the African market
Reaffirming the reliability of Algeria as an exporter of natural gas for Europe and Asia, the Minister of Energy and Mines expressed the determination of the Algerian authorities to continue their efforts to abundantly supply their partners, reiterating “Algeria’s objective to increase and intensify gas production.” In the same vein, Mr. Arkab affirmed that Algeria has the capacity to increase its gas production to 200 billion cubic meters per year “in the medium term”, against a current production of 137 billion cubic meters.
The Minister of Energy and Mines mentioned the project to interconnect the national electricity network with the African network, with a view to “accessing the African market”, through high and very high electricity transmission lines. tension, parallel to a railway line going to Adrar and Tamanrasset. “The idea is to create a unified and interconnected African electricity network, knowing that 700 million Africans live without electricity,” said the minister, stressing that Algeria “is a strong country in terms of electricity production and of energy management.
He indicated that he had numerous meetings with African officials, with whom he examined the means of transferring Algerian expertise in this area, recalling, moreover, the importance of the project relating to the electrical line which extends to Europe through Italy, for the export of electricity to the European market.
Concerning the electricity sector, Mr. Arkab indicated that work is underway to carry out a project to connect the electricity network in the north of the country to the network in the south, specifying that the work is currently underway at the level of the wilaya of El Meniaa and that “this megaproject” was able to strengthen the electrification of agricultural operations in the South and boost development in general.
To a question on the prospects for processing activity and valorization of hydrocarbon resources locally, Mr. Arkab affirmed that the objective set is to increase the valorization rate from around 32% currently to 50% in the future. , as part of the petrochemical activity.
