Algeria has great potentialities for the exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbon resources, said Sunday in Oran the director of unconventional project director at the national hydrocarbon company SONATRACH, Mohamed Kaced.
In a paper presented on the occasion of the International Gas Industry Conference in Algeria, the Algerian expert explained that Algeria's potentialities for the exploitation of unconventional resources, especially shale gas, are "huge."
Several studies using advanced techniques have been carried out in this regard.
Five potential basins have been targeted and researches showed that Algeria, as an exploitation area, does not differ significantly from the North American region, particularly the United States of America, the first country to exploit shale gas as unconventional resource.
According to the expert, these studies, launched in 2007, showed a huge gas potential in the prospective areas.
"According to the studies, these areas contain 4,940 trillion cubic feet (148,000 billion cubic metres), i.e. 248 billion barrels," he said.
The exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbon resources, scheduled for the next few years, require advance technology and great operational and financial capacity, hence the need to establish targeted partnerships with foreign companies.