Page 14 - AfrOil Week 12 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

Eni, Sonatrach report new oil

find at HDLE-1 well in Algeria

ALGERIA ENI (Italy) and its partner Sonatrach, the discovered at HDLE extends into Sif Fatime 2,
national oil company (NOC) of Algeria, have an adjacent concession that Eni and Sonatrach
discovered sizeable new reserves of crude oil are operating under a 50:50 joint venture. It will
and associated gas in HDLE-1, a new explora- also help them conduct the studies and analyses
tion well drilled at the Zemlet el Arbi licence needed to fast-track upstream development of
area in the Berkine North basin. the new find and perhaps bring it on stream as
In a statement published on Sunday (March quickly as the third quarter of 2022.
20), Eni reported that the well had encountered Eni did not say whether it would make use
26 net metres of light crude oil with excellent of existing infrastructure, such as the process-
petrophysical characteristics in the Triassic ing facilities at Bir Rebaa North to accelerate the
sandstones of the Tagi formation. move towards production.
During testing, it noted, the well yielded The Italian major already has an extensive
7,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 5mn cubic presence in Algeria. It has been working in the
feet (141,600 cubic metres) per day of associated North African country since 1981 and is cur-
gas. Preliminary estimates indicate that the well rently producing about 95,000 bpd there. ™
may hold about 140mn barrels of oil in place
(OIP), it stated.
HDLE-1 was drilled at a site around 15 km
from existing processing facilities at the Bir
Rebaa North, another oilfield operated by Eni.
The Italian major went on to say that the
partners intended to continue drilling in order
to gain a greater understanding of the parame-
ters of the HDLE exploration prospect. HDLE-1
is the first of five wells to be drilled in the Berkine
North basin, it explained, and the second, the
HDLE-2 appraisal well, is due to be spudded in
April.
HDLE-2 will allow the two companies to
determine whether the oil-bearing structure HDLE-1 lies within the Zemlet el Arbi licence area (Photo: Sonatrach)

Nigeria opens second phase

of Dangote fertiliser plant

NIGERIA NIGERIAN President Muhammadu Buhari likely to see Nigeria become a serious player in
opened the second phase of Africa’s largest fer- the export market.
tiliser plant, a brand-new $2.5bn facility near “Nigeria’s dependence on imported products
Lagos, the country’s biggest city, on Tuesday in the agriculture sector will soon be a thing of
(March 22). the past,” President Buhari said, suggesting that
The plant, owned by Africa’s richest man, the plant would “greatly create wealth, drasti-
Aliko Dangote, has already begun shipping to cally reduce poverty and secure the future of
the US, India and Brazil. It adds significantly to our nation.”
Nigeria’s already substantial fertiliser produc- Agriculture accounts for about a quarter
tion capacity and will allow the West African of Nigeria’s GDP. Until now, though, farmers’
country to become a net exporter of urea. output has been limited by the availability of
Tuesday’s inauguration is timely, as the Rus- imported fertiliser. The new $2.5bn plant will
sian invasion of Ukraine has significantly dis- allow Nigeria to meet domestic demand in full
rupted the world fertiliser market. As such, it is and eliminate fertiliser imports.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 12 23•March•2022