French major Total on 7 October announced two deals that cement its commitment to Algeria across the upstream and downstream. As well as signing up to develop a gas field in the east of the country, Total is to help develop a key petchems complex targeting exports to Europe.

Together with state firm Sonatrach Total will develop the Erg Issouane gas field on the TFT Sud permit for tie-in to the facilities of the nearby Tin Fouyé Tabankort (TFT) field. TFT output has been in decline, with Total in June agreeing together with partner Repsol to invest $324mn to drill 11 new wells in a bid to maintain output at 3bcm/y (290mn cfd), which in turn is just half 2013 levels (MEES, 15 June). (CONTINUED - 807 WORDS)