On 29 October 2018 Eni announced that it signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Sonatrach and Total for offshore exploration in Algeria. The agreement was signed by the CEOâs of Sonatrach, Eni and Total, Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, Claudio Descalzi and Patrick PouyannÃ©, respectively. Total and Eni will pursue obtaining exploration permits that will allow for rapid completion of the hydrocarbon potential assessment. The exploration wok will take place on two large offshore blocks. One in the east will cover 15,000 sq km in the region of the former Bejaia-Annaba block and one in the west will cover 10,000 sq km in the region of the former Mostaganem-Tenes block. Eni will operate in the east while Total will operate in the west.   The work program on each block includes acquisition of 3D seismic, reprocessing of existing seismic data and the drilling of one exploration well. Total CEO Patrick PouyannÃ© pointed out that the Algerian offshore is difficult to explore as the water depths are considerable. This has an impact on drilling costs and it is estimated that a typical exploration well offshore Algeria will cost between EUR 50 and 60 million.  Partners in the two blocks will be Sonatrach with a 50% interest, Eni and Total with 25% each.  On 7 October 2018, Ould Kaddour, said that the company is in talks with Eni on offshore exploration. He indicated that offshore drilling will start in the first half of 2019.  On 24 September 2018, Ould Kaddour, said that offshore exploration drilling could start in 2019. According to him, preliminary studies are promising but he gave no details on the region where the drilling could take place or the partners which were selected.  In mid-July 2017 it was reported that Sonatrach is still in talks with international oil companies on hydrocarbon exploration offshore Algeria. Ould Kaddour said that his company is discussing the project with Eni, Total, Anadarko and Shell. Earlier, ExxonMobil and Statoil had also been presented as potential partners.  On 27 February 2017 it was reported that Sonatrach is in talks with international oil companies on hydrocarbon exploration offshore Algeria. The company has reportedly approached potential partners to carry out exploration offshore Bejaia and Oran. Sonatrach operated one large exploration permit in each of the targeted areas: Bejaia-Anaba/145 and Mostaganem-Tenes/143. The drilling of an exploration well offshore is planned since 2014 but was postponed most probably due to the crash in the oil price in late 2014. According to the local press, Eni was selected as Sonatrachâs partner to work on one of the two offshore blocks.  Sonatrach completed two 3D surveys totalling 5,000 sq km over offshore permits, Bejaia-Anaba/145 and Mostaganem-Tenes/143 in the Tellian and Sud-Tellian Atlas. Both surveys were run with the CGGâs Viking Vanquish S/V. The first survey of 1,000 sq km was acquired over the 21,390 sq km Mostaganem-Tenes/143 permit between beginning of March 2013 and beginning of July 2013. The second survey of 4,000 sq km was acquired over the 32,058 sq km Bejaia-Anaba/145 block between mid-July 2013 and mid-August 2013.  In November 2012, Northern Algeria Exploration Director, Mohand Said Mala, re-emphasised the interest of Sonatrach to promote offshore exploration in joint venture with International Oil Companies, identifying Repsol and Statoil as potential partners. In the case IOC are not interested, Sonatrach could drill alone with the support of major service companies, such as CGG Veritas or Schlumberger. First well was planned for 2014. Critical for this offshore exploration drilling is data quality and availability and drilling costs. The potential hydrocarbon zones are located at 2,000 to 2,500 m water depths.  Â In mid-May 2011, Sonatrach completed a 5,000km 2D seismic survey offshore Algeria. The BGP âChallengerâ vessel started acquiring seismic data over the Bejaia- Anaba prospecting permit, offshore eastern Algeria on 1 April 2011 and then moved over to the Mostanagem-Tenet prospecting permit, offshore western Algeria in late April 2011.   Algeria has a very narrow continental shelf with a steep continental slope, the water depth reaches 2,000m at just 25km from the shore line.
Algeria, Atlas