Aps : Sunday, 25 November 2018
ALGIERS – The National Hydrocarbon Company SONATRACH and Italian group ENI have inked Saturday in Algiers several cooperation agreements in the field of renewable energies,
in the presence of Chief Executive Officers Abdelmoumem Ould Kaddour and Claudio Descalzi, as well as Arezki Hocini chairman of the Governing Board of the National Agency of Promotion of Hydrocarbon Resources (ALNAFT).
Sonatrach and ENI signed a contract on the construction of an intelligent solar laboratory in Bir Rebaâ North (BRN), north of Ouargla (800 km south of Algiers).
Under the contract, the two parties will create an intelligent solar laboratory, a project of research and development which will be run by a Sonatrach-ENI joint team.
The laboratory which is planned to be located near the existing facilities and the 10-MW photovoltaic plant at the BRN site will identify innovative solutions and applications for Oil & Gas installations in Bir Rebaâ North.
It will also help provide a combination of performance control system installations in a hostile environment.
Cooperation between the two parties also covers training and exchange of know-how on renewable energy production systems and associated research and development.
The second contract signed by the two groups concerns the execution of the renewable energies development action plan.
SONATARACH, ENI as well as Alnaft Agency have signed amendments to the exploration contracts for the transfer of Sonatrach’s 49% interest in the three research areas Zemlet Elarbi, SIF Fatima and Orhoud II to ENI group
51% of the 25-year Research and Operations contracts will be financed by Sonatrach and 49% by Eni.
Sonatrach and ENI plan to complete a first work programme that includes an exploration programme for an $80million investment to drill 5 wells, acquire and process 2,600 km2 of 3D seismic.
A programme of the first phase, which is amounted to more than one billion dollars includes the construction of a compressor station, a condensate drain line, drilling of 18 wells, a network for oil producing wells, a network for gas producing wells and their connection to a gas line.
This development programme is expected to reach a cumulative production of 145 million TOEs, including 14 GSm3 (billion standard m3) of dry gas.
The research and exploitation contract on the “Ourhoud II” perimeter was signed between Alnaft and Sonatrach in 2012, while the contractual perimeter of “Zemlet Elarbi” was awarded to Sonatrach by Alnaft in 2015.
The Research and Exploitation contract on the “Sif Fatima II” perimeter has been signed between Alnaft and Sonatrach last July.
In December 2017, Sonatrach and ENI signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of renewable energies.
