Sonatrach Discovers Three New Oil, Gas Fields in Algeria

CAIRO (Sputnik) - Algeria's state-owned oil company Sonatrach announced on Monday that it had discovered three new oil and gas deposits in the country.

The first gas field is located in the Illizi basin area of southern Algeria.

"The flows recorded during the tests were 300,000 cubic meters of gas per day with 26 cubic meters of condensate per day from the first tank, and 213,000 cubic meters of gas per day with 17 cubic meters of condensate per day from the second tank," the company said in a statement.

The second site, which yielded 1,300 barrels of oil per day and 51,000 cubic meters of associated gas, was discovered in partnership with Italy's Eni in the Berkine basin in the north of the country.

Sonatrach located another gas field in the Bechar basin near the Moroccan border.

Last Tuesday, Sonatrach signed a contract with Eni, France's TotalEnergies and US company Occidental Petroleum on the development of onshore blocks at the Berkine basin. The project's investments will total nearly $4 billion and ultimately allow for the extraction of the equivalent of 1 billion barrels of oil, which will boost the oil extraction by 55%, Sonatrach noted.