Repsol, Sonatrach Renew Vows: Report
Algerian state Sonatrach and Spain’s Repsol signed an agreement June 5 to “consolidate their existing partnership,” according to a statement reported by state news agency APS late June 6.
“This agreement will permit both companies to bring their partnership to fruition through joint exploration and by amicably settling any existing differences between them,” said the Sonatrach statement, according to APS. Repsol has not released a stock market filing or press statement on the June 5 Sonatrach agreement and has yet to respond to NGW on its substance or on the status of its ongoing Reggane Nord gas project in Algeria.
Last year the Spanish firm lost an international arbitration case to Sonatrach relating to a windfall tax on profits introduced by Algeria in 2006. Repsol was a party in another such case being mounted by Total, but in April this year Total also agreed to settle its disputes with Sonatrach. Repsol was among several Spanish companies to meet the Algerian energy minister Noureddine Boutarfa last month in Madrid shortly before he was sacked.
Reggane Nord gas development
Repsol is operator of the $3bn Reggane Nord gas development in southwest Algeria, with a 29.25% interest. Production drilling began in 2015 and first gas had been scheduled this year. Partners are Sonatrach 40%, Russia-backed DEA 19.5% and EDF's Italian subsidiary Edison 11.25%.
Former top Algerian ministerial adviser Ali Aissaoui, in a paper for the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies a year ago, estimated the development would not produce before 2018; plateau production from Reggane Nord is expected to be 2.9bn m³/yr from a development spanning six different fields.
DEA map showing location of fields that will make up the Reggane Nord development (Map credit: DEA)
Meanwhile Libya's state National Oil Corporation CEO Mustafa Sanallah held a meeting June 6 with Algeria's new finance minister Abderrahmane Raouya, having met energy minister Mustapha Guitouni the previous day, also in Algiers; with the latter Sanallah discussed the current status of cooperation between Sonatrach and NOC, reported APS.
Mark Smedley