Algeria’s First Bid Round In A Decade: Will It Be A Major Success?

2 May 2025 Issue: 68 / 18 By: Nada Ahmed, James Cockayne

Algiers is close to wrapping up its first bid round since 2014. It hopes to attract some of the largest international players, including possible country entries for US majors Chevron & ExxonMobil, and a re-entry for BP, with Asian and Gulf NOCs also a strong possibility. But one of the country’s current key investors, TotalEnergies, may be shunned amid heightened Algeria-France tension.

There are fewer than 50 days to go before Algeria’s first oil and gas bid round in a decade closes on 17 June, with bids to be opened and provisional awards made the same day (MEES, 18 October 2024).

Launched by state hydrocarbon regulator Alnaft in October after several years in the making, the long-awaited bid round offers six large onshore blocks totaling 152,000 km2 – substantially larger than England – encompassing both gas and oil-prone areas of Algeria (see map). Alnaft says it expects the successful bidders by 30 July to have inked either production-sharing (PSC) or ‘Participation’ contracts under the auspices of the country’s 2019 oil law (MEES, 15 November 2019). (CONTINUED - 1966 WORDS)