Sergey Tumanov Meets with the General Director of Sonatrach and the Chairman of ALNAFT in Algiers
Sergey Tumanov, Managing Director of Gazprom EP International, paid a working visit to the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria. During the visit, Mr. Tumanov met with the Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab, the General Director of Sonatrach Toufik Hakkar, and the Chairman of the Management Board of Algeria's National Agency for the Valorization of Hydrocarbon Resources (ALNAFT) Noureddine Daoudi.
At the meeting with the representatives of Sonatrach, the sides discussed the status of the Road Map implementation as part of the decision on the commercial significance of the discoveries of Gazprom EP International at the El Assel Contract Area: the gas condensate fields Rhourde Sayah and Rhourde Sayah Nord, and on the dates of the transition to the development stage.
The Russian side expressed its particular gratitude to ALNAFT for the constructive assistance to Gazprom EP International and understanding in the course of the entire period of its activities in the country that facilitate consistent progress of the joint projects implementation.
The representatives of ALNAFT explained the options of a direct award of oil and gas contracts upon the results of studies under a relevant agreement with the Agency provided for by new Algerian Law No. 19–13 governing hydrocarbon activities. The Agency is also ready to provide a series of presentations on different oil and gas projects in Algeria both at the exploration and development stages that may be of interest in terms of expanding the presence in the country.
Sergey Tumanov and Toufik Hakkar
Background
Gazprom EP International has been the project operator within the El Assel license area in the Berkine basin since 2009 conducting business activities via its Branch Office in Algiers. Its participating interest in the project is 49%. The remaining 51% belongs to a Sonatrach, a state-owned company. As part of the exploration program, a significant amount of 3D and 2D seismic survey was carried out at the site, the data was processed and interpreted alongside with the historic seismic data; eight exploration and appraisal wells were constructed.