Algeria has completed the first pilot wells for its shale gas development with reports from the North African state saying they are “promising”.

Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi briefed media in Algiers that the tests in the Ahnet Basin had produced “extremely compact gas in impermeable rock”. The Ahnet Basin is located at In Salah, 50 kilometres from Tamanrasset.

The tests were carried out by the state-owned energy company Sonatrach and are part of a long-term plan to produce unconventional gas in Algeria. The programme expects full commercial production to start after 2020 and only then if it is likely to be profitable.