Algerian’s national energy company, Sonatrach has announced its intent to invest approximately 30 billion US dollars in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, especially natural gas so as to upgrade facilities to improve its position in global markets for LNG as well as pipeline gas for Europe.

This was announced in the policy statement for 2023 by its Chief Executive Officer, Toufik Hakkar, as he explained “as part of Sonatrach’s five-year investment plan (2023-2027) the sum of US$40 billion has been set aside and more than US$ 30 billion will be allocated to exploration and production with the objective of increasing production in the short and medium term, and preparing a portfolio of future projects, in particular for natural gas”.

He added that the company also planned, within the framework of the investment plan, to invest more than $7 billion in refining, petrochemical, and gas liquefaction projects.

Hakkar stated that “Algeria’s objective through Sonatrach is to become one of the most important sources of gas supply in the world, thanks to our substantial reserves of natural gas and to the recent increases in production”.

However, Sonatrach intends to continue developing its gas potential with several projects to be commissioned in the next two years.

Sonatrach is the national state-owned oil company of Algeria which was founded in 1963, as it is known to be the largest company in Africa with 154 subsidiaries. In most cases, it is referred to as the first African oil “major”. 

Sonatrach was ranked as the seventh largest gas company in the world in 2021.