Algeria’s Sonatrach Group, Italy’s Eni, America’s Occidental and France’s Total today signed a $4 billion oil and gas “production sharing” contract.
The 25-year contract concerns the exploitation of the natural gas and oil fields of the Berkin Basin.
Announcing “this important agreement of four billion dollars”, Algerian President Abdelmadide Teboun underlined, during his meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, that “it will allow Italy to be supplied with significant quantities of natural gas”.
The deal was signed under the terms of a new November 2019 law on Algerian hydrocarbons, which provides for the possibility of sharing production with foreign groups.
The introduction of the law had provoked strong reactions in Algeria, where its opponents spoke of handing over national wealth to multinationals.
Occidental Petroleum is also involved in the deal, having acquired US oil company Anadarko.
The Total group had signed an agreement with Occidental to acquire Anadarko’s assets in Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa.
However, the Algerian authorities objected to Total’s acquisition of these assets in Algeria, citing an option.
During the Italo-Algerian summit, Algeria also announced an increase in natural gas shipments to Italy, to which it has become the number one supplier, dethroning Russia, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In the coming days, about four billion additional cubic meters of natural gas will be exported to Italy, according to an Algerian government source.
Source: RES-MPE
Source: Capital
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