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since Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:04:17.
Mark Newton
Monday, 03 August 2009 http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/200908032029/Energy/bp-the-largest-investor-in-algeria-to-expand-2-billion.html
In interview with Reuters, the head of the BP's Algeria said that his company plans to invest $2 billion over the next 5 years in the oil and gas projects in Algeria.
The investments will include drilling three new exploration wells at a promising gas field, maintaining production at two large gas fields that BP jointly operates, and the world's first industrial scale project to capture and store the carbon dioxide released from gas production.
"BP is still committed to invest in Algeria and just in our existing projects, we plan to invest $2 billion over the next five years," Akli Brihi, head of BP Algeria, told Reuters.
Algeria is the world's fourth largest gas exporter and its eighth biggest exporter of crude. BP says its investments in the north African country in the past 12 years have totaled $5 billion, making it one of the biggest foreign investors.
The gas exported from the large In Salah and In Amenas gas fields -- both of which BP operates jointly with Norway's StatoilHydro (STL.OL) and Algerian state firm Sonatrach -- is equivalent to one third of Algeria's annual gas exports.
Brihi said the company, in conjunction with StatoilHydro and Sonatrach, would deliver an $800 million compression project at the In Salah field early next year, and was planning to drill new production wells in the south of the block.
The aim was to sustain production at the current level of about 9 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year, said Brihi.
He said the three partners had similar projects in the pipeline for the In Amenas field, which also has a production capacity of 9 bcm a year, plus about 50,000 barrels a day of gas condensate and liquid petroleum gas.
BP is conducting seismic studies and also plans to drill three new exploratory wells starting late this year on its Bourarhet exploration block to gauge the size of gas reserves.
"We made a promising gas discovery last year," said Brihi. "By 2012, we hope to get a clear picture about the potential of gas reserves in the Bourarhet block."
However, BP's decisions on whether to invest in new Algerian acreage are linked to a large extent to the terms the government puts on the table, said Brihi.
The company, alongside other foreign firms, is looking at 10 oil and gas contract areas for which Algeria is inviting bids. The areas on offer in the bid round include one gas field with big potential reserves.
In a previous bid round last year, only a quarter of the contracts on offer were awarded.
That round was the first held since Algeria adopted a new law giving Sonatrach a minimum 51 percent stake in any project and changing the tax terms -- reforms some energy analysts said could discourage investment.
"We will of course be eager to look at the potential of the blocks offered by Algeria," said Brihi.
BP is the largest foreign investor in Algeria. It has delivered two world-class gas developments: In Salah Gas and In Amenas.
In Salah Gas is one of the largest dry gas joint-venture projects in the country. The venture involves the development of seven proven gas fields in the southern Sahara, 1,200km south of Algiers. On-stream since July 2004, the project produces around 9 billion cubic metres of gas a year. In Salah is also the world's first full-scale carbon dioxide capture project at a gas field. Around 1 million tonnes of CO2 is being injected into the reservoir each year.
In Amenas is also one of the largest wet gas projects in the country. In Amenas involves the development and production of natural gas and gas liquids from wet gas fields in the Illizi basin of south eastern Algeria. This project came on stream in 2007 and is expected to produce around 9 billion cubic metres of gas and 50,000 barrels of liquids a year.(Reuters, BP, Oil&Gas mag)
