Anadarko Turns North Africa Focus To Shale

8 Mar 2013 Issue: 56 / 10

US independent Anadarko will turn the focus of its North African operations to shale oil and gas following this month’s scheduled start-up of its key 130,000 b/d El Merk project in Algeria. The company sees major shale potential in Tunisia and Morocco as well as Algeria.

Anadarko is looking to leverage its position as a leading US shale oil and gas producer by transferring this expertise to North Africa. “We’ve had great success with shale in the US. We understand what it takes to make it work, so the exploration team has been looking internationally... And of one the areas we ended up coming home to is North Africa, says company CFO Robert Gwin.

“It’s not just the subsurface but more so the above ground side of it. The proximity to local markets and then into Europe; so good pricing, access to water, surface access, all of the different components,” says Mr Gwin, speaking on a recent conference call setting out the company’s 2013 capital program. Algeria is thought to have by far the most extensive shale reserves in North Africa – state firm Sonatrach touts a whopping 760 trillion cu ft as recoverable (MEES, 11 June 2012). (CONTINUED - 1366 WORDS)