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$2 billion investment in Algeria energy projects
05 August 2009
A senior official from British oil major BP said that the company plans to invest $2 billion over the next 5 years in the oil and gas projects it operates in the North African state of Algeria.
The investments will include an industrial scale carbon capture venture at In Salah, the drilling of three new exploration wells at a promising gas field as well as maintaining production at two large gas fields that BP jointly operates.
A senior official from British oil major BP said that the company plans to invest $2 billion over the next 5 years in the oil and gas projects it operates in the North African state of Algeria.
The In Salah contract area is the site of a $100 million project that aims to serve as a test-bed for future initiatives around the world to separate CO2 from natural gas, and store it nearly 2km underground. Over 3 million tonnes of CO2 has been captured and stored there since 2004. The project has a positive impact on the environment as CO2 release into the atmosphere contributes to climate change. Furthermore, the scheme does not produce any financial return for partners BP, Statoil and Sonatrach because it is not eligible for carbon credits under the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
BP is conducting seismic studies and also plans to drill three newly discovered exploratory wells starting late 2009 on its Bourarhet exploration block to gauge the size of gas reserves. By 2012 BP hope to have a clear picture about the potential gas reserves in the Bourarhet block.
Algeria is the world's fourth largest gas exporter and its eighth biggest exporter of crude. BP said its investments in the North African country in the past 12 years have totalled $5 billion.
BP is one of the largest foreign investor in Algeria. The gas exported from the large In Salah and In Amenas gas fields - both of which BP operates jointly with Norway's StatoilHydro and Algerian state firm Sonatrach - is equivalent to a third of Algeria's annual gas exports.
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