OREANDA-NEWS. July 25, 2012. E.ON E&P and Sonatrach have made further oil and gas discoveries in the Rhourde Yacoub license area in Algeria. In cooperation with Sonatrach, the Algerian National Oil & Gas Company, E.ON E&P has successfully completed the drilling and testing of the 7th exploration well in block 405a and found oil and gas in the NEY-1 well. The Rhourde Yacoub license is located in the eastern Algerian Sahara, around 250 kilometres south-east of Hassi Messaoud.

“We are very pleased with another successful discovery of oil and gas in Algeria. The results of this well are very encouraging and we will now enter a phase where we will drill several wells over the next two years to evaluate the extension of the discoveries,” says Hubert Mainitz, Managing Director of E.ON E&P Algeria. The Rhourde Yacoub license is operated by E.ON E&P with an equity share of 49%. Sonatrach holds the majority of 51%. “The successful discoveries in Algeria are important steps for our growing upstream business in E.ON. The success of Rhourde Yacoub and our decision to continue further drilling highlights our commitment to invest in attractive projects in Algeria,” says Frank Sivertsen, CEO of E.ON E&P. The Rhourde Yacoub license is located in the oil and gas-prone Berkine basin and E.ON E&P was awarded this block in a license round in December 2008. Since then the company has drilled 7 exploration wells and made several encouraging discoveries in the license area.

E.ON E&P is a growth segment within E.ON and is active in four focus regions including UK, Norway, Russia and North Africa. E.ON E&P produced 7.6 billion cubic metres of natural gas and 3.6 million barrels of oil in 2011. Production will increase significantly in the coming years as more fields such as the E.ON-operated Huntington project in UK and the Skarv field in Norway are brought on stream. E.ON E&P has an increasing number of projects in which it is the operator.