Russ Oil-Gas

19 February 2008 - Upstream OnLine - Russian gas giant Gazprom and Algeria's state-owned Sonatrach could revive a production agreement both sides had previously abandoned, Russia's Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said today. "Gazprom and Sonatrach are now working on options to swap assets and take part in extracting and transporting gas," Khristenko told Reuters after Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika met with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Bouteflika flew to Moscow yesterday for a two-day state visit with a group of Algerian ministers, including Chakib Khelil, current Opec president and the country's energy minister. A co-operation deal in which the Algerian player would take a stake in gas exploration deals in Russia fell apart at the end of last year when both Gazprom and Sonatrach backed out, declining to give a reason. The proposed partnership further raised a long-held fear in the European Union over potential fixed prices by two of Europe's top gas suppliers. As well as Gazprom, Stroitransgaz, Gazprom's main building contractor, could extract at least 3.5 million tonnes of oil per year in Algeria from 2011, Russian media reported Khristenko as saying, adding that the Russian company acquired deposits in Algeria one week ago. Both Khelil and Khristenko avoided questions on the possible creation of an Opec-style gas charter, which would make the informal club of major gas exporters official, a suggestion which market talk and media reports have recently bolstered. Russia, together with Iran, Qatar, Venezuela, Nigeria and Algeria have said their annual gas forum aims at increasing co-operation between key producers. Russian officials have consistently denied any possibility of an "Opec gas" charter, but experts and analysts believe it could happen in the medium to long-term, a Reuters report added.