Algeria’s state-owned oil company Sonatrach signed a contract with Italia’s Eni on crude oil exploration and production from Algeria’s Berkine Basin. The contract covers an area of 7,880 square kilometres in the southern part of the basin, close to production assets operated by the joint venture of Sonatrach and Eni. The two companies expect to develop reserves of roughly 135 million boe in the first phase, with a production start-up slated by the end of 2022.
Eni is already a major player in the Berkine Basin and operates the Berkine Nord gas project. In December, the Italian energy major signed an MoU with Sonatrach under Algeria’s new hydrocarbon law, which offers much improved fiscal terms for investors. Eni also signed another MoU with Sonatrach on energy transition initiatives, including renewables, hydrogen, bio-refining, and CO2 capture and storage. Separately, Sonatrach inked an MoU with Eni, Occidental Petroleum, and TotalEnergies to explore opportunities at the producing 208 and 404 blocks in the basin at the end of January.
