Algeria to increase shale gas production to meet local demand

Algeria will increase its shale gas production to meet growing demand in the domestic market.

A BP statistical review of energy report revealed that all of Algeria’s production will be used locally from 2019.

The country’s shale gas reserves are estimated at 600 trillion cubic feet (17 trillion cubic metres).

Algeria intends to introduce a new hydrocarbons bill in parliament that will encourage the exploration of unconventional gas and oil resources, reports AFP.

According to experts, Algeria, which is mostly dependent on hydrocarbons, which account for 90% of its total exports, has to develop shale gas, an unconventional fossil fuel, to secure its energy for the future.

Algeria’s hydrocarbons company Sonatrach has signed agreements with the Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell, Italian Eni and Canadian Talisman to develop shale gas in the country.

In 2011, the company drilled its first well in the Ahnet basin near Tamanrasset, about 2,000 kilometres south of Algiers and also found a new gas property in the southeast near Illizi, and will begin offshore exploration in 2014.

Experts fear large scale shale gas removal could result in environmental damage, and that chemicals used during the process could contaminate the country’s water supply.

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Image: Sonatrach signed agreements to develop Shale gas. Photo: courtesy of Sonatrach.