Thai state firm PTTEP says it has started development work at its Hassi Bir Rekaiz (HBR) oil project in Algeria’s Berkine Basin.

But the 19 March announcement also acknowledges that PTT does not expect Phase-1 output of 10-13,000 b/d until 2021 with potential Phase-2 expansion to 50-60,000 b/d from 2025. As recently as last month’s results and strategy outlook the firm gave dates of 2020 and 2024, respectively. When PTT’s development plan was approved in April 2018 it said it was targeting 2019. (CONTINUED - 294 WORDS)