Wintershall Dea continues to explore new opportunities in Algeria in the field of gas production and low-carbon energy solutions. To this end, Wintershall Dea and Sonatrach have expanded their Memorandum of Understanding, originally signed in August 2020. The MOU now sets a basis for the company to consider new business opportunities in Algeria, not just in natural gas but also in hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

Dawn Summers, Chief Operating Officer und responsible board member for Middle East and Northern Africa, says: „Our MOU enables us to identify new natural gas projects in close cooperation with our partner Sonatrach and to further develop our Algerian business in the field of new energy.“

In August 2020, Wintershall Dea and Sonatrach had agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding with effect from 1 July. The two parties have been working closely together on the Reggane Nord project since Wintershall Dea entered the market in 2002. The Reggane Nord project comprises six gas fields over an extensive area of 1,800 km2 in the southwest of the Sahara Desert. In 2017, the Groupement Reggane Nord (GRN), comprising Wintershall Dea (19.5%), Sonatrach (40%), Repsol (29.25%) and Edison (11.25%), celebrated first gas.

Algeria is Africa's largest natural gas producer, and the third largest exporter of gas to Europe. The country is a natural partner for Europe to achieve the ambitious goals of the energy transition while ensuring security of supply. As Europe's leading independent gas and oil company, Wintershall Dea sees a strong role for natural gas as the most climate-friendly conventional energy source, and is also investing in climate-friendly hydrogen and CCS projects as part of its Energy Transition Pathway.

About Wintershall Dea

Wintershall Dea is Europe’s leading independent natural gas and oil company with more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 13 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Russia, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business.

As a European gas and oil company, we support the EU's 2050 carbon neutrality target. As our contribution we have set ourselves ambitious targets: We want to be net zero across our entire upstream operations – both operated and non-operated – by 2030. This includes Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions on an equity share basis. In addition Wintershall Dea will bring methane emissions intensity below 0.1 per cent by 2025 and maintain zero routine flaring of associated gas in its operations. The climate goals are to be achieved through portfolio optimization, emissions reduction through more energy efficiency, investments in nature-based compensation solutions and in future technologies such as hydrogen and CCS.

Wintershall Dea was formed from the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, in 2019. Today, the company employs around 2,500 people worldwide from over 60 nations.

About Sonatrach

Sonatrach, the largest oil and gas company in Africa, is an Algerian state-owned company (NOC) holding a wide range of activities across the entire hydrocarbon supply chain, from upstream through marketing. Sonatrach employs more than 53,000 employees in the parent company and more than 150,000 in the Group. The Group has 154 subsidiaries and holdings striving to enhance the country’s oil and gas sector.