Algeria’s national hydrocarbon company, Sonatrach, announced yesterday that production from a recent gas discovery south of the capital amounted to 3.7 million cubic meters per day, rising to 8 million at the end of the first current quarter.
According to a statement from Sonatrach, the CEO of the national company, Toufik Hakkar, visited yesterday, accompanied by company executives, the Elias carbonate field, in the newly discovered state of Laghouat, in the south of the capital city. The company also indicates that the work of evaluating and developing this discovery is making remarkable progress, “as 15 unused gas wells have been recovered and three new wells have been drilled”.
In addition, Sonatrach pointed out that the wells yielded significant results in terms of production, which reached an estimated level of 3.7 million cubic meters per day of condensate-rich gas. With the objective of reaching eight million cubic meters per day before the end of the first quarter.
According to the same source, the production of this discovery will reach 15 million cubic meters per day by the end of the current year.
Reserves estimated at 340 billion cubic meters
Thus at the end of last June, Sonatrach announced a new gas discovery called Elias Carbonate, whose reserves were estimated at 340 billion cubic meters. It is located near the huge field of Hassi R’mel in the south of the country.
The Sonatrach press release at the time considered that “this volume of gas constitutes one of the most important operations of revaluation of the reserves of the last twenty years.”
A source at Sonatrach said at the time that the Elias Carbonate reservoir is an independent field and is not linked to the huge environment of Hassi R’Mel, which is 150 kilometers away.
The reserves of the Hassi Rmel field in the state of Laghouat, south of the capital (the largest in the country), are estimated at more than 3,800 billion cubic meters.
In this regard, it should be noted that the Algerian authorities are seeking to increase the production of natural gas. And this, in particular after having signed new contracts to supply Italy with additional quantities of nine billion cubic meters per year of this substance.
