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On the page below you will find a selection of articles from the African Energy archive. All links preceded by a padlock symbol require a subscription.
Sonatrach postponed the bid opening for the seventh licensing round from 3 December, to 13 December, the state company announced just ahead of the planned event. An Algerian source close to the bidding told African Energy “the delay was due to agenda reasons”, with key officials preoccupied with the run-up to the 17 December OPEC meeting in Oran and other commitments. Issue 152, 12 December 2008.more
Financing for fertiliser plant
Sonatrach and Oman’s Suhail Bahwan Group Holding, through their El Djazairia El Omania Lil Asmida joint venture have signed financing agreements worth $2.06bn with a consortium of local banks for the Mers El Hadjadj fertiliser plant to be built in the Arzew industrial zone (AE 137/20). Issue 152, 12 December 2008.more
Algerian leaders convinced huge project roster can weather credit crunch and oil price storms
Algeria expects that eagerly anticipated upstream and midstream projects will substantially increase the gas reserves essential to fuel the government’s massive power, petrochemicals and hydrocarbons investment plans. Jon Marks asks whether Algeria really has sufficient natural and financial resources to make its ambitions a reality. Issue 151, 28 November 2008.more
Algeria plans to double generation capacity by 2010
Fast-track investment in generation capacity will demand increased supplies of gas, with much of the new plant to be installed in the next decade being gas-fired. Issue 151, 28 November 2008.more
Algiers warms to atomic alternative
Algeria is being courted by France’s Areva and other potential nuclear suppliers for a project that might use uranium deposits from the deep south Hoggar area. Issue 151, 28 November 2008.more
Renewables rise up the agenda
Algiers is seriously considering renewables options, with solar seen to offer most potential. The Ministry of Energy and Mining (MEM) calculates solar capacity at 169,440TWh/yr – 5,000 times current national electricity consumption. Issue 151, 28 November 2008.more
Pointers – Saipem contract for Hassi Messaoud LPG; Algeria/Tunisia: LPG supply to double
A group led by operator BG Group has completed drilling and testing the HBH-5 appraisal well on the Hassi Ba Hamou permit in the Western Desert, partner Gulf Keystone Petroleum announced. Issue 150, 14 November 2008.more
Sonatrach talks Ahnet with ‘big five’
Ahead of the 3 December bid submission deadline for the seventh licensing round, Algerian national oil company (NOC) Sonatrach is talking to five major operators about their potential participation in the largest and most complex element of the auction – to further explore and develop the substantial gas deposits identified in the Ahnet basin (AE 144/16, 143/11, 140/1). Issue 150, 14 November 2008.more
Koreans secure Arzew refinery contract
Sonatrach subsidiary Naftec has signed a $400m contract to rehabilitate and modernise its Arzew refinery with a South Korean consortium of Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Hawha Engineering & Construction and Daewoo. Issue 150, 14 November 2008.more
Big investment planned in domestic gas grid
State company Société Nationale de Gaz et d’Electricité (Sonelgaz) plans AD230bn ($3.3bn) investment in 2008-17 in the national gas transport infrastructure to develop a local market, senior officials said. The government’s draft law on supplying the national gas market is finally going through the executive, setting out a firmer legislative platform to support the regulator, Commission de Régulation de l’Electricité et du Gaz (Creg), and Sonelgaz affiliate Gestionnaire du Réseau de Transport du Gaz (GRTG) as system operator. Issue 150, 14 November 2008.more
Larbâa on stream by end-2009
The new Larbâa open-cycle gas-fired plant, being built by Italy’s Ansaldo in the Blida region, is due on stream by end-2009. Construction started in May 2007 and was scheduled to take 30 months, Sonelgaz said. Issue 149, 31 October 2008.more
In Salah Gas Phase II FEED
Operator BP has given Foster Wheeler the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the Southern Gas Fields Development Project (SGFDP), phase two of the In Salah Gas Project, which involves the development of seven fields in the southern Sahara. Issue 148, 17 October 2008.more
Swicorp to fund Petroser new ventures
Geneva and Riyadh-based financial firm Swicorp has agreed to provide funding to an Algerian privately-owned oil products marketer, Petroser, through its $250m private equity vehicle Intaj Capital. Issue 148, 17 October 2008.more
Nationalist and populist, Algeria wants much more from its investors
These can be tough times for investors, even if they are not hopelessly over-leveraged or scraping around for credit in the hostile global financial environment. Algeria’s shifting attitude to foreign partnerships provides a case in point. Never over-generous with its terms, Algiers has toughened up its attitude to foreign intervention in the economy, while local politicians seem increasingly focused on domestic concerns, while paying only lip-service to the demands of international investors, or for wider microeconomic reform. Issue 148, 17 October 2008.more
Pointers – Iran to build oil field power network; Sonelgaz pledges tariff freeze
New find pushes Hassi Mouina gas field towards commerciality
StatoilHydro has made another gas discovery in the Hassi Mouina perimeter, with the Norwegian company suggesting the field – the first in which it is operator in Algeria – could be declared commercial by 2010 for first gas in 2013, provided there is an adequate pipeline system to transport it. Issue 147, 4 October 2008.more
Gassi Touil damages claims and counter-claims
Few details have emerged of the arbitration taking place in Geneva between Sonatrach and its former Gassi Touil integrated natural gas project partners Repsol YPF and Gas Natural, following the state company’s decision to terminate its contract with the Spanish firms last year (AE 144/21). Issue 147, 4 October 2008.more
Eni buys First Calgary
Italy’s Eni has put First Calgary Petroleums out of its misery by buying up the Canadian company which has been struggling to bring its gas-prone MLE concession into production (AE 145/14). Eni offered C$3.60 ($3.39)/share, valuing FCP at C$923m. Issue 146, 22 September 2008.more
Algeria continues to frustrate international project financiers, delight l/c issuers
Another spate of bombings by ultra-radical jihadist groups, aimed at western and security forces targets, has added to pressures on President Bouteflika’s regime, but international bankers’ biggest problem still seems to be getting around lending restrictions to book deals, writes Kevin Godier. Issue 145, 5 September 2008.more
FCP delays MLE production date
As it struggles to bring its Algerian assets into production, but amid renewed bid speculation that on 3 September triggered a 33.5% rise in its London Alternative Investment Market share price, Canada’s First Calgary Petroleums (also quoted on the Toronto Stock Exchange) announced a Q2 loss of $14.5m. Issue 145, 5 September 2008.more
Pointers – EU gives green light for Arzew petrochems project
European competition authorities have given Sonatrach and Total the go-ahead for the planned $3bn Arzew petrochemical complex. Issue 145, 5 September 2008.more
Algeria finally launches seventh licensing round and sets a difficult deadline
After three years of waiting and uncertainty, interested bidders must now move quickly to participate in Algeria’s seventh international hydrocarbons bidding round, writes Our Algiers Correspondent. Issue 144, 1 August 2008.more
Algerian bid round: Ahnet’s attractions
Special supplementary conditions have been set for the Ahnet zone, a gas project operated by Sonatrach. This prize territory seems to be operating almost as a test case. Issue 144, 1 August 2008.more
Arzew LNG EPC goes to Snamprogetti, Chiyoda
Low bidder Petrofac/IKPT has lost the Arzew LNG train contract to a joint venture of Italy’s Saipem/Snamprogetti and Japan’s Chiyoda. The E2.8bn ($4.4bn) engineering, procurement and construction contract is for a single train gas liquefaction plant, with a capacity of 4.7m t/yr, to be built near Arzew, about 400km west of Algiers. Issue 144, 1 August 2008.more
Algeria launches long-awaited licensing round
Algeria has finally unveiled details of its long-awaited seventh licensing round, which will set the basis for IOCs’ co-operation with a resurgent Sonatrach. Issue 143, 18 July 2008.more
ONE/Sonelgaz co-operation
Morocco’s Office National de l’Electricité and Algeria’s Sonelgaz signed two agreements during a meeting of energy and mines ministers from the Maghreb. Issue 143, 18 July 2008.more
JGC wins big Rhourde Nouss EPC contract
Sonatrach has given Japan’s JGC Corporation (JGC) and its subsidiary JGC Algeria an engineering, procurement and construction services contract for gas and oil gathering units, separation, desalination and other facilities to develop the Rhourde Nouss field. Issue 143, 18 July 2008.more
Petrofac low bidder for Gassi Touil liquefaction unit as Algeria’s export options build
While Sonatrach’s dispute with the former Gassi Touil integrated liquefied natural gas project partners Repsol YPF and Gas Natural moves towards international arbitration, the state energy company is moving forward in plans to develop the complex scheme itself, using international engineering and services companies to carry out key parts of the work. Issue 143, 18 July 2008.more
Petroceltic in strategic alliance with Iberdrola
In the latest sign of power companies’ eagerness to secure energy supplies, Ireland’s Petroceltic International has announced a strategic alliance with Iberdrola, with a $55m investment from the Spanish energy company. Issue 142, 4 July 2008.more
Gulf Keystone gas find
Gulf Keystone Petroleum has announced its first exploration success on the Hassi Ba Hamou (HBH) permit. Issue 142, 4 July 2008.more
Portugal extends co-operation
Algeria and Portugal have resolved a long-running dispute over a ten-year-old promise to allow Sonatrach to take a 7% stake in oil company GALP Energia, as the two countries deepen their energy co-operation. Issue 142, 4 July 2008.more
OCI wins Skikda LNG contracts
Kellogg, Brown & Root International (KBR) has given Egypt’s Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) two construction contracts for the civil works and piling installation of a new liquefied natural gas train in Skikda being developed by Sonatrach. Issue 142, 4 July 2008.more
GE, Iberdrola to build Koudiet Eddraouch
Shariket Kahraba Koudiet Eddraouch Spa, owned by state companies Sonelgaz and Sonatrach, has awarded a consortium of GE Energy and Spain’s Iberdrola Ingenieria y Construccion a contract for the construction of the Koudiet Eddraouch power plant in El-Tarf province, 700km east of Algiers (AE 139/8). Issue 141, 20 June, 2008.more
Policy shifts and realpolitik add to complexities of Algeria’s licensing round
The Algiers rumour mill is spinning as IOCs wait on more details of a licensing round that could eventually launch major natural gas projects for companies who can get to grips with the complex Algerian business environment, write Jon Marks and Our Algiers Correspondent. Issue 140, 6 June 2008. more
General Cable buys local stake
The US’ General Cable Corporation has entered a joint venture for majority ownership of Enica Biskra, a state-owned manufacturer of low and medium voltage power and construction cable, which is a major supplier to state utility Sonelgaz. Issue 140, 6 June 2008.more
Sonelgaz will announce a decision in the coming months on which gas and electricity distribution concessions it plans to keep and which will be offered to the private sector on a concession basis. Issue 139, 23 May 2008.more
New plants, development plans
Sonatrach and Sonelgaz have signed a financing package with Banque Nationale d’Algérie (BNA) and Crédit Populaire d’Algérie (CPA) for the Terga and Koudiet Eddraouch power plants, which will add a total of 2,400MW to the national grid (AE 127/9). Issue 139, 23 May 2008.more
Isarene prospects
Petroceltic’s Isarene permit has entered the two-year second exploration period and the Dublin-based company is acquiring wide azimuth 3D seismic over a large gas/condensate prospect called the Ain Tsilla ridge in the north east of the permit. Issue 139, 23 May 2008.more
Algeria/Tunisia: Joint exploration moves ahead
Algeria and Tunisia are moving forward with an oil and gas exploration partnership first mooted in April 2003 when state companies Sonatrach and Entreprise Tunisienne d’Activités Pétrolières (Etap) created Numhyd, a 50/50 Jersey-registered joint venture (AE 65/15). Issue 139, 23 May 2008.more
Gulf Keystone bullish on Hassi Ba Hammou
London Stock Exchange-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP), an independent explorer that has made a number of discoveries in Algeria’s Hassi Ba Hammou perimeter, says it does not expect to encounter problems when the time comes to raise finance to bring the field into production. Issue 139, 23 May 2008.more
Sonatrach sells LNG direct to Spain
Algeria has started selling liquefied natural gas directly in Spain, bypassing local distributors and using its own subsidiary. Issue 139, 23 May 2008.more
Algerian project business shows no let-up, insurance market soundings show
Projects in Algeria’s energy and infrastructure sectors are pushing business volumes towards the capacity ceilings held by some political and credit risk insurers, as the country cashes in on its unprecedented hydrocarbons revenue windfall, writes Kevin Godier. Issue 139, 23 May 2008.more
FCP struggles with relations
By rejecting an uncharacteristic appeal from Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil to retain its senior management, shareholders at First Calgary Petroleums (FCP) have risked putting the Canadian company at odds with the influential minister (AE 136/18). Issue 137, 25 April 2008.more
Sonatrach announces new finds
Sonatrach has announced four new hydrocarbons finds, two made on its own account and two in association with Cyprus-registered, Paris-headquartered and Tunisian-controlled Medex Petroleum. Issue 137, 25 April 2008.more
Sonatrach fertiliser plant EPC
Sonatrach has signed engineering, procurement and construction contracts for the construction of two fertiliser plants in the Arzew industrial zone. Issue 137, 25 April 2008.more
IOCs adapt to new Algerian realities as Khelil clarifies conditions
As the prequalification process for the innovative seventh licensing round advances, the dynamic of the new relationship between Algeria and its foreign partners is gradually solidifying, writes John Hamilton. Issue 136, 11 April 2008.more
Khelil letter delays First Calgary chief executive vote
The management of Canadian minnow First Calgary Petroleums (FCP) has used a letter from Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil to postpone a shareholder vote to oust its chief executive. FCP’s only hydrocarbons asset is the Ledjmet block (405b) in the Berkine Basin, where it has made significant discoveries (AE 104/30). Issue 136, 11 April 2008.more
Pointers – First gas find of 2008
State company Sonatrach has announced its first hydrocarbon discovery of the year – a gas find with StatoilHydro in the Hassi Mouina area on Block 321b. Issue 136, 11 April 2008.more
North African refinery projects test gap between ambition and capacity
Every country along the North African littoral from Morocco to Egypt has got at least one refinery project in planning or on the go. The question is: can they all succeed when so many schemes are aiming for the same export market and in many cases hoping to use the same sources of feedstock? Issue 135, 28 March 2008.more
Sonatrach secures market share with revised StatoilHydro HoA
Sonatrach has secured a revised deal with Norway’s StatoilHydro that underlines the Algerian state company’s determination to build up a much greater international profile by working in tandem with IOC partners, with a 1 March agreement to extend a liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply accord and give it access to a US east coast regasification terminal. Issue 134, 7 March 2008.more
Energy subsidies hamper WTO
Energy subsidies and difficulties in reforming the services sector are holding up accession to the WTO, according to European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. Issue 134, 7 March 2008.more
Gazprom eyes up Nigeria stakes, looks for Algerian upturn
These could be prime times in Africa for Gazprom, with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s 19-20 February visit to Moscow promising to revive the gas giants co-operation agreement with Sonatrach – if parallel thorny issues of defence sales and finance could be ironed out – and Gazprom executives in Abuja sounding bullish about the prospects for their planned projects in Nigeria (AE 130/15). Issue 133, 22 February 2008.more
Khelil’s exploration for assets plan further complicates round
Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil has considerably added to the complexity of the planned licensing round, to be run for the first time by regulator Agence Nationale pour la Valorisation des Ressources en Hydrocarbures (Alnaft), by announcing via a Financial Times interview that for some blocks at least bidders will be required to “swap assets” to gain access to attractive acreage (AE 131/17). Issue 132, 8 February 2008.more
Sonatrach loses monopoly
Sonatrach has finally lost its monopoly on the distribution of gas within Algeria. Issue 132, 8 February 2008.more
Algiers: threats, rumours & security fears
International oil companies’ Algiers offices have instituted emergency measures to protect their staff following unattributed terrorist threats against them, setting the rumour mill into overdrive in the Algerian capital. But at the same time IOCs say they are determined that business should continue as usual, worried that a public stress on security issues could harm their already sensitive relations with the authorities. Issue 131, 25 January 2008.more
Sonatrach finds
Sonatrach ended 2007 by announcing two new hydrocarbons discoveries. Issue 130, 14 January 2008. more
Gazprom’s Nigerian play: are the Russians serious?
Story includes: Sonatrach MoU collapses, could be revived.
Issue 130, 14 January 2008. more
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