Algeria, Niger to partner in energy production projects

Algeria and Niger have agreed to cooperate in energy-based projects.

This announcement follows a meeting between Algerian Energy minister Yaoucef Yousfi and Niger’s minister of Oil and Energy Foumakoye Gado in Algiers. It was part of a three- day of Niger’s president visit to Algeria in company with a large delegation.

According to Gado, the discussion between them, held at the residence of state in Zeralda, Algiers, was promoting cooperation between the two countries in areas of oil, electricity and training in the petroleum field.

Niger is about to complete a production sharing contract with Sonatrach, a national oil group and a subsidiary of SIPEX, and will continue the exploration at Kafra block on the Algeria- Niger border that it has been undergoing for the past six years.

The new partnership is set to replace the oil and gas prospecting and exploration contract signed between Algerian SIPEX and Niger in 2005. Last year October, Sonatrach announced it would be investing $3.48 billion in extending gas pipelines around Algeria in a move that would improve capacity.