Page 9 - AfrOil Week 02 2022

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

Archive photo of past ONEP strike, staged in December 2018 (Photo: ONEP)

“Our strike notice launched 10 days ago expired As OPEC’s second-smallest producer, Gabon
on Monday. We were not called to open negotia- has seen a drop-off in exploration and develop-
tions. We therefore launched the strike,” he said. ment drilling in the past five years. Its crude oil
Gabon, which re-joined OPEC in 2016 after output currently amounts to around 200,000
a 20-year absence, is often subject to strikes by barrels per day (bpd), according to S&P Global
ONEP over employment terms. Platts. ™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Sonatrach plans offshore drilling in 2023

ALGERIA ALGERIA’S state-owned Sonatrach plans to be launched within the new investment strat-
start its first offshore oil drilling in 2023, said egy in the petrochemical sector. The strategy
Rachid Zerdani, the group’s deputy chairman includes establishing two facilities related to the
for strategy and planning,. production of methyl and alkyne-benzene lines
In an interview with Algerian radio, Zerdani financed by its own funds.
explained that the drilling process will cover two He was speaking shortly after Sonatrach’s
main areas. The first area stretches across the CEO Tewfiq Hakkar said that company would
eastern region of the country, while the second invest $39bn to boost Algeria’s hydrocarbon out-
is in the western basin. He added that Sonatrach put between 2022 and 2026. ™
invests between $800mn and $1.2bn annually
in unexplored basins with the aim of collecting
data from them and determining their hydro-
carbon potential.
Zerdani also reported that Sonatrach had
raised its production by 9mn tonnes of oil equiv-
alent to 185mn toe in 2021. He added that the
group’s exports rose by 13mn toe, achieving lev-
els of nearly 95mn toe with a turnover of more
than $34bn.
In order to maintain its production level,
Zerdani explained that Sonatrach has inten-
sified its efforts to explore new reserves, ear-
marking $8bn annually over the next four years,
70% of which is allocated to exploration and
production.
Zerdani also confirmed that Sonatrach is
in advanced negotiations for an ambitious
project for the production of plastic materials,
within the framework of the projects that will The offshore drilling campaign will target two main areas (Photo: Sonatrach)

Week 02 12•January•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9