Algeria's Sonatrach eyes asset swaps in planned auction of oil, gas blocks

“We are going to be using this process to get Sonatrach more involved in international operations so we will be looking for those companies to offer us opportunities,”Chakib Khelil pointed out.

The auction covers 15 oil and gas blocks, including areas in the Berkine region and the Ahnet Basin in southern Algeria .

Pre-qualification has already opened and companies such as BP, Total, Shell and Exxon Mobil have already shown interest, he added.

The licensing round, Algeria ‘s seventh, will be the first since it passed a law guaranteeing Sonatrach a 51 pct stake in all new projects, and as such analysts will be watching closely to see if demand is affected.

The Algerian energy group also plans to target fresh M&A opportunities abroad.

“We are looking at companies that complement what we don’t have, either in petrochemicals, ownership in assets that could provide us exposure in areas we don’t have any activities, to give us access to markets,” Chakib Khelil emphasized.

Sonatrach is already active in other parts of Africa, Latin America and Portugal .

In addition, Chakib Khelil confirmed that Sonatrach had taken control of the Gassi Touil LNG project, which it had previously been pursuing in conjunction with Repsol YPF and Gas Natural, as a result of delays and cost overruns.

“We had the option to say well, let’s look for another partner, and if we had taken that option it would have taken us perhaps another two years and we already have delays of three years,” Khelil said.

Algeria provides about 13% of Europe ‘s total gas consumption and has the world’s eighth-largest proven gas reserves.