GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) Thursday announced the discovery
of natural gas in the Illizi basin in south-east
Algeria
.
MAIN FACTS:
- The Tihalatine Sud-1 (TIHS-1) well was drilled to a
depth of 1,192 meters in the Ordovician shale. A production test produced a gas
flow from the Ordovician reservoir of 105,000m3 per day.
- GDF Suez holds 9.8% of the south-east Illizi permit
along with Repsol (25.725%) and Enel SpA (13.475%), in partnership with
SONATRACH, which holds the remaining 51%.
- Appraisal work will be carried out by the consortium
to assess the size of this discovery.
- The TIHS-1 drilling is the first well of the
exploration program, which began in July 2011 with the acquisition of 2D and 3D
seismic data. The drilling program includes four additional wells.
- The
contract on the South East Illizi perimeter is the second project held by GDF
Suez in
Algeria
, the
first being the Touat gas permit obtained in 2002. Located in south-west
Algeria
and
operated in partnership with SOonatrach, Touat is one of the largest
exploration-production projects under development by GDF Suez.