Shale Gas in North Africa

During the aftermath of the Algerian presidential elections last month, the Algerian government authorized shale gas exploration. This is a decision to move forward with developing the country's shale gas reserves and gives the green light for international investors to begin exploiting North Africa's new reserves. 

In 2013, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an assessment of 137 shale formations in 41 countries outside the U.S. In this assessment, Algeria’s technically recoverable reserves were ranked third, after China and Argentina. Algeria’s technical recoverable shale gas reserves are estimated at 20 trillion cubic meters.

When considering shale resources, it is important to distinguish between a technically recoverable resource and an economically recoverable resource. Technically recoverable resources represent the volumes of oil and natural gas that could be produced with current technology, regardless of oil and natural gas prices and production costs.