Algeria's Exploration Budget to Increase Threefold

(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Algeria's national hydrocarbon company "Sonatrach" plans to increase threefold the exploration budget to boost national energy potential, the group's CEO Abdelhamid Zerguine said. "We are planning to extend Algeria's potential reserves in both conventional and non-conventional resources," Zerguini told a national radio station. "Exploration efforts must be the cornerstone of our development plan, that's why we want to increase threefold the budget on the middle term," he added. Zerguine, in an address to mark the 42nd anniversary of hydrocarbon nationalization, stressed the exploration efforts made over the past few years, making of Algeria a leading country in in terms of discoveries. The discoveries, however, "remain modest" as it contribute to only "30% of our annual consumption," he noted.