Algeria preparing new block auction

Algeria is preparing a new auction of oil and gas blocks, having awarded only four of 31 fields in September in the first attempt to lure foreign investors since 2011. Following the first round, Italy’s Enel plans to invest $700mn on four oil and gas blocks in Algeria in the next five or six years. Spain’s Repsol, in partnership with Shell, won the Boughezoul area, while Shell and Norway’s Statoil secured the Timissit area.