US Oil Giant Turns Attention To Africa Amid Biden Crackdown On Russia
John Hugh DeMastri on February 6, 2023
U.S. oil giant Chevron has restarted talks with the Algerian government to close an energy exploration deal as the company looks to replace Russian oil, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Although U.S. companies have scaled down their activity in both the Middle East and Africa due to political concerns, sanctions on Russian oil and gas supplies have prompted Chevron to make the regions a priority, according to the WSJ. Chevron had previously signed a memorandum of understanding with Algerian state-run gas firm Sonatarch to engage in oil and gas exploration in 2020, but progress had largely stalled until the past two months.
“Algeria holds a world-class petroleum system with significant potential for conventional and unconventional oil-and-gas exploration,” a Chevron spokeswoman told the WSJ. The same spokeswoman declined to give the WSJ any details on Chevron’s business opportunities, but noted the company had reached an agreement with the Algerian government to access data regarding three of its largest natural gas reservoirs.
Chevron, which shattered its yearly profits record in 2022 after oil prices skyrocketed, has invested heavily in U.S. shale and intends to take advantage of the technology it has developed for that purpose in Algeria, the WSJ reported. The company has spoken with several Algerian officials and hired consultants to evaluate the country’s resources, which are estimated to be the third-largest recoverable source of shale in the world.
“The region needs gas, both regionally in the Middle East, but also then obviously options to try to get that gas into Europe,” CEO Mike Wirth told analysts in a yearly report in January, the WSJ reported.
Chevron did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.
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