22/12/2005
Irish-based oil and gas company Petroceltic International said it requested invitations to tender for its drilling campaign in the Isarene Contract Area in Algeria. The process is expected to be completed by the end of January and will facilitate the start of drilling operations in Algeria in the first or second quarter of 2006. Several international drilling service companies have expressed serious interest in the tender, some of which currently have ongoing drilling operations nearby, said Petroceltic CEO John Craven.
The Isarene Contract Area, which covers 10,800 square kilometers, is geologically similar to other large oil and gas fields in the Illizi Basin. The area is 75 per cent owned by Petroceltic and 25 per cent by Sonatrach, and has nine gas fields and one oil and gas field. Sonatrach has discovered reserves of 380 billion cubic feet of gas and 28m barrels of oil and potential reserves of 4.6 trillion cubic feet of gas and 400m barrels of oil. (UK-Wire press release)