Algeria has recently made significant discoveries of both oil and gas in a big exploration drive that could help double the country’s production over the next decade, the country’s oil minister said yesterday.
Algeria’s minister of energy and mines Youcef Yousfi (pictured) said early evaluations show new reserves of more than 1bn barrels of conventional oil under the giant Hassi R’Mel gas field.
Furthermore, early estimates show Algeria’s technically recoverable shale gas reserves are about 700tn cu ft and tight gas potential is about 300tn-500tn cu ft, he said.
“We will start as soon as possible pilots for tight gas and then for shale gas to see what is economically recoverable,” he said.
Other recent discoveries include “significant” finds of oil and gas in the Berkine and Illizi basins in the already developed southeast of the country in addition to big discoveries in the southwest-a region that hasn’t been explored before, he said.
“For the medium term I think that our production will more than double,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an oil industry conference in London. Algeria produces about 1.2mn bpd of oil.
The ministry is preparing the next licensing round, which will concentrate on onshore blocks, he added.
