Algeria’s national oil company Sonatrach has signed a 25-year concession agreement, extending an existing contract for the Tin Fouyé Tabankort (TFT) gas and condensate field.

The contract has been signed with France’s Total, Spain’s Repsol and Algiera’s Alnaft, a state-owned agency created to promote investments, exploitation of hydrocarbons and issues prospecting licenses.

Under the terms of the new contract, Sonatrach will have a 51 per cent stake in the concession, Total a 26.4 per cent stake and Repsol a 22.6 per cent stake.

The partners have agreed to invest in drilling and developments to maintain production at its current level of 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boe/d) for six years.

The companies have also signed a separate gas marketing agreement.

Speaking after the contract was signed, Total chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: "Today’s agreements mark a new milestone in the implementation of the comprehensive partnership agreement signed between Sonatrach and Total in April 2017, and strengthen the strategic cooperation between the two companies.”

Total’s exploration and production activities in Algeria date back to 1952.

In 2017, Total produced 15,000 boe/d in Algeria, all of it from the TFT gas and condensate field.

In March 2018, Total started production from the Timimoun gas field in southwestern Algeria.

Total has a 37.75 per cent interest in the field, which has a production capacity of 5 million cubic metres of gas per day (around 30,000 boe/d).

Through the Maersk Oil acquisition, which closed on 8 March, Total now holds a 12.25 per cent interest in the El Merk, Hassi Berkine and Ourhoud oil fields, which have a combined production capacity of 400,000 boe/d.

In November 2017, Total also announced the acquisition of Engie’s upstream liquefied natural gas (LNG) assets.

Once closed, this transaction will add 4.6 million tons per year to the group’s global LNG portfolio thanks to supply agreements with Sonatrach.

In May 2018, Total signed an agreement with Sonatrach to launch the engineering studies for a petrochemical project in Arzew, western Algeria.