The National: Unconventional gas gathers pace in Middle East

The development of unconventional gas resources in the Middle East is gathering pace, as Algeria closes in on agreements with international oil companies to explore its shale gas potential.

The country is in advanced talks with ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell over shale gas exploration, said the head of Sonatrach, Algeria's national oil company.

"We are in talks with Shell and Exxon," Abdelhamid Zerguine, the chief executive told a news conference last week.

Shale gas is extracted from deep-lying shale rock formations in a process called hydraulic fracturing. It revolutionised the energy landscape in the United States, where prices have tumbled in response to a surge in supply. In Algeria, optimism over shale has given rise to some grand comparisons. "The initial results of the evaluation of the non-conventional gases, mainly shale gas, showed that reserves in the country are at least equal to the US reserves," Youcef Yousfi, the energy minister, told the Algerian Press Service in February. MORE