Algerian modern art opposing fracking in the Saharan oasis town of Ain Salah [photo credit: Sigouss & l'Homme Jaune]
But the pursuit of shale, given environmental concerns, comes with challenges. The authorities are mindful of the protests
which, eight years ago, engulfed towns across Algeria’s vast Sahara
desert region, in an unprecedented environmental protest movement. Towns
from Tamanrasset near the frontier of Niger to Ghardaia, just south of
the vast Hassi R’Mel gasfield, to Ouargla just west of the country’s
oldest oil field, Hassi Messaoud, were the scene of often violent
confrontations between demonstrators and the police.
Visits to the region by senior officials, including the prime
minister Abdelmalek Sellal, the Director of National Security, General
Abdelghani Hamel and the Minister of Energy, Yousef Yousfi, failed to
sway the demonstrators; only the brutality of the gendarmerie and the
harsh prison sentences handed down by the judiciary finally did the
trick. As demonstrations reached the far away capital, Algiers, the then
president Abdelaziz Bouteflika insisted that “all energy sources,
whether conventional or not, are a gift of God and it is our duty to
uses them for the development of the country, while strictly respecting
the environment.”
Methods of extracting shale have improved a lot over the past decade
but recourse to fracking and the injection of large volumes of sand
mixed with water and chemicals deep underground at high pressure to
fracture the rock and release trapped oil and gas carry costs. The large
aquifer which lies under the Sahara and spreads across Algeria, Tunisia
and Libya is vital for life in the region. Will the authorities be
transparent in the management of these new risks? The question hangs in
the air.
Those who live in the belt of Saharan towns are a volatile mix. They
include former Touareg nomads, the proud kings of the desert of
yesteryear who pine for their former lifestyle; former Black African
slaves to whom independent Algeria gave education; and Arab tribes such
as the Chambas, whose most famous scion, Moktar Ben Moktar was a
hardline Islamist leader whose main claim to fame was the attack on the gas field of In Amenas in January 2013.
Many of those who work for the state oil and gas company come from
the north of Algeria and are paid four to five times more than locally
contracted workers who are employed in catering, transport and cleaning.
Locals are unhappy because they allege that the oil and gas wealth
extracted from their region has, since independence in 1962, funded
economic development in the heavily populated northern coastal regions.
Such grievances coupled with fears for their unique environment, fuels
resentment.
Algeria stands well positioned to reinforce its importance as a
secure provider of gas to Europe. The country is stepping up its
deliveries of piped gas to Italy while continuing to pump gas through
the pipeline which runs from Oran, in the west of the country to Almeria
in Spain (not to mention Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) ships.) The
agreement with Chevron, when it is signed, will mark the beginning of a
new era in gas. But it is one that comes with environmental and
economic concerns that the government would do well to address.