Italy’s Eni and Algeria’s Sonatrach this week announced the start-up of a new oil field in the Berkine Basin. Current production is around 10,000 boe/d with the firms saying they expect output to reach 17,000 boe/d next year through the implementation of an accelerated development plan which includes further drilling.

The HDLE/HDLS field is located on the Zemlet El Arbi concession and was discovered in March as part of a five-well exploration campaign by Eni. The initial HDLE well tested at 7,000 b/d oil and 5mn cfd gas with Eni pegging reserves at 140mn barrels of oil in place (MEES, 25 March). (CONTINUED - 307 WORDS)