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UAE's Dana Gas holds talks with Algeria's Sonatrach, Ministry for Energy

Sharjah, Feb. 6th, 2008: Senior officials from UAE's Dana Gas , the Middle East's first and largest regional private-sector natural gas company, held talks with Sonatrach , Algeria's national oil company, and the Algerian Ministry for Energy and Mines .

The meetings took place during the 3rd Algerian Economic Forum, which was held in Algiers on 20-21 January 2008, under the patronage of Abdul Aziz Boutfliqa, Algerian President, and attended by A. Aziz Bellchadem, Algerian Prime Minister.

The meetings in Algeria form part of Dana Gas 's strategy to invest and acquire strategic positions in existing natural gas projects and related industries across the MENASA region, and to develop new opportunities in the region's fast-growing natural gas sector, said Dana Gas .

Rashid Al-Jarwan, General Manager of Dana Gas , Greg Renwick, Business Development Director represented Dana Gas to the discussions with Sonatrach which was represented by Chairman and CEO Mohamed Meziane.

The forum was organized by the Algerian Ministry for Participation and Promotion of Investment, the Algerian Chamber of Trade and Industry, and the Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group, and covered several topics of interest to investors. It was attended by a cross-section of government and industry representatives and many investment institutes from the Gulf, including the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce, and provided a useful introduction to the Algerian business environment.

Meziane welcomed Dana Gas ? Interest in Algeria and confirmed that Sonatrach was interested in discussing various forms of cooperation with international companies and prominent GCC companies entering Algeria for the mutual benefit of both sides.

A similar meeting was held with Abbas Faycal, Managing Director and Under Secretary of the Algerian Ministry of Energy and Mines, his staff, and Sid Ali Betata, Chairman of the National Agency for Valuation of Hydrocarbon Resources (ALNAFT), one of the Ministry's two divisions. The primary topic of discussion was the upcoming Algerian exploration bid round. Up to 15 blocks are expected for nomination shortly, most of which are gas prone. ALNAFT will select bid winners based on the bid and the company's ability to bring state-of-the-art development technologies to Algeria and to provide access to opportunities outside Algeria.

One of Dana Gas ? main strengths is its ability to participate across the gas value chain and to provide integrated solutions to the entire natural gas industry. Sonatrach said it would consider studies which involved value chain proposals.

Algeria is a significant producer of both oil and natural gas, and has the third largest proven oil reserves in Africa as well as the eighth-largest proven natural gas reserves in the world. Oil and natural gas exports make up approximately 98 percent of the country's exports (by value) and are the main driver of Algerian economic growth.

Both the oil and gas sectors have great development potential, encouraging investment that will ensure increased production capacity over the next few years and Algeria will continue to be a major producer of gas in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region and a major hydrocenter supplier.

© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2008.