By an OGJ correspondent
PARIS, July 12 -- Gaz de France has been awarded the Touat exploration permit, with hydrocarbon exploration and development rights in the Timimoun basin in central Algeria.
GdF submitted the winning bid, under an international licensing round, for Blocks 352a and 353 on the permit, which holds gas-condensate reserves discovered by previous exploration efforts.
As sole interest holder GdF will operate the permit, its first such opportunity in Algeria.
Covering 15,392 sq km, the permit lies 200 km northwest of the Ahnet basin, where Gaz de France has been associated with Malaysia's Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd. and Algeria's state oil and gas company Sonatrach in a production-sharing contract since 2001. It also is 200 km west of the In Salah gas and NGL megaproject.
Plans call for an initial 3-year exploration and assessment program to reevaluate the permit's potentially recoverable volumes, currently estimated at 60-120 billion cu m of natural gas.
