Page 34: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2013)

33 35

sent government offcials and representatives from state oil frm Sonatrach, with speakers from both and a large exhibition

Perspectives stand. It is already a well- established onshore pro- ducer. Operations in the south of the country made it the fourth-largest crude oil producer in Africa in 2010, following Nigeria, Angola, and Libya, according to the IEA. The hydrocarbon industry accounts for about 37% of the country’s gross domestic product and rev- enues from the sector cover two-thirds of the state bud- get, according to Sonatrach.

However, oil

CGG will complete Algeria’s 5000sq km, production 3D seismic acquisition program in July.

has fallen and (Images: www.pidragen.com) domestic demand for gas for power shooting 5000sq km; 4000sq km in has increased, so the eastern area, 1000sq km in the the frm is keen to west. attract international Offshore data acquisition began in operators to help February and is due to fnish in July. explore its offshore Processing has already started but acreage –93,000sq km is expected to take at least a year, spread along 1200km geo- with potential plans for exploration of coastline. To this end physicist drilling to start in late 2014 or 2015, the country says a new Nahim Khennaf during Sonatrach says.

law has been introduced OMC. In the past, Sonatrach has “Offshore, Sonatrach is working offering better fscal terms for new claimed that successful explora- alone,” Khennaf says. “The southern projects, specifcally for offshore, tion on equivalent basins Northern (onshore) geology in the Sahara is as well as unconventional projects. Tunisia and Southern Italy confrm less complex than the north and off-

Sonatrach is itself planning to the existence of hydrocarbons in its shore, and the southern part is well invest $80 billion between 2012 and offshore territory. explored. Only a few companies are 2016, 73% of which would be on However, the only exploration working in the north and currently, upstream activities, OMC was told. offshore to date has been a deep- not a single foreign company. It is “Our goal is to continue pro- water well in the 1970s (Habibas-1, thought offshore is similar to the duction, but also further explora- drilled in 923m of water to a total onshore northern area where there tion to fnd new reserves,” says depth of 4496m in Hercynian and was a discovery in the 1960s. Some

Abdelhamid Zerguine, the frm’s inconclusive), which means there is believe there is some analogy with chief executive. “The challenge for little information available for any offshore Red Sea, also offshore

Algeria is to meet domestic market international companies to inter- Spain, off Valencia, and Sicily. We needs in the long term. The rate pret, Khannaf says. are hoping the new law will make it of growth of the population has Algeria is now looking to change more attractive.” been 15%. The other challenge is to this, he said. It has a large amount A report by WesternGeco in 2003, strengthen our position in supply- of 2D seismic data across the area following the 2D seismic program, ing oil and gas to the world. We – shot ahead of a previous attempt summarized the deepwater margin need partners.” to attract foreign investment - but of Algeria as “potentially hosting

Offshore Algeria is considered a the country recently launched a a favorable combination of factors frontier area because there has been major 3D seismic acquisition pro- for the development of an effective so little exploration, says Sonatrach gram using French frm CGG. It is petroleum system.”

OE | May 2013 oedigital.com 36 0513OE_Analysis_OMC.indd 36 4/22/13 3:38 PM