11
The increasingly growing pace of the global economy has led to a rapid increase in energy
demand. However, conventional fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, which have been a
key source of energy since the industrial revolution, are not only threatened with depletion; but
they have also gradually become a source of concern for their serious adverse effects on our
environment.
Since the 1950s, oil and gas extraction from the seabed has grown steadily, despite the recent
diversification and expansion of onshore oil and gas operations. It has been estimated that
hydrocarbons located deep offshore today concentrate around 30% of the world's conventional
resources yet to be discovered. Offshore production corresponds to 30% of world oil production
and 27% of gas production. These percentages have remained stable since the beginning of the
21st century, despite the strong onshore development of unconventional hydrocarbons such as
bituminous or bituminous sands and shale hydrocarbons. Technological innovation allows oil
exploration to discover reserves that are more difficult to access. Today, nearly 2/3 of new
discoveries are offshore reserves. Thus, offshore exploitation has been the subject of colossal
investments on the part of the States, evaluated in total at 100 billion dollars per year. This is
particularly the case of Europe, which today produces 17% of the oil buried in the underwater
environment (Planete Energies 2015).
The depletion of stocks now leads oil companies to dig deeper and deeper with the use of
extremely expensive and complex advanced technologies, thus increasing the risk of accidents.
The offshore industry shows that offshore oil and gas sites have a higher level of risk than any
other industrial site on land (Kaasen, K. 2013). For example, the malfunction of an oil platform
in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 caused one of the worst oil spills in history with 780 million liters
of oil that spilled into the Atlantic Ocean for 85 days.
In Algeria, the national hydrocarbon company Sonatrach plans to carry out its first offshore oil
drilling in 2023. This first drilling will highlight the identified potential on the perimeters on
which Sonatrach operates with partners. These are two perimeters, one located in the East
between Skikda and Annaba and the second identified in the West basin of the country between
Oran and Mostaganem. The Sonatrach had concluded, in October 2018, agreements with the
French Total and the Italian ENI, concerning the exploration of offshore hydrocarbons off the
Algerian coast. Under the terms of the contract, exploration in the eastern zone at Béjaïa will be
conducted by ENI in the eastern Algerian basin, covering an area of 15,000 m2, the objective of
which is to identify the sandstone and carbonate reservoirs.
The increasingly growing pace of the global economy has led to a rapid increase in energy
demand. However, conventional fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, which have been a
key source of energy since the industrial revolution, are not only threatened with depletion; but
they have also gradually become a source of concern for their serious adverse effects on our
environment.
Since the 1950s, oil and gas extraction from the seabed has grown steadily, despite the recent
diversification and expansion of onshore oil and gas operations. It has been estimated that
hydrocarbons located deep offshore today concentrate around 30% of the world's conventional
resources yet to be discovered. Offshore production corresponds to 30% of world oil production
and 27% of gas production. These percentages have remained stable since the beginning of the
21st century, despite the strong onshore development of unconventional hydrocarbons such as
bituminous or bituminous sands and shale hydrocarbons. Technological innovation allows oil
exploration to discover reserves that are more difficult to access. Today, nearly 2/3 of new
discoveries are offshore reserves. Thus, offshore exploitation has been the subject of colossal
investments on the part of the States, evaluated in total at 100 billion dollars per year. This is
particularly the case of Europe, which today produces 17% of the oil buried in the underwater
environment (Planete Energies 2015).
The depletion of stocks now leads oil companies to dig deeper and deeper with the use of
extremely expensive and complex advanced technologies, thus increasing the risk of accidents.
The offshore industry shows that offshore oil and gas sites have a higher level of risk than any
other industrial site on land (Kaasen, K. 2013). For example, the malfunction of an oil platform
in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 caused one of the worst oil spills in history with 780 million liters
of oil that spilled into the Atlantic Ocean for 85 days.
In Algeria, the national hydrocarbon company Sonatrach plans to carry out its first offshore oil
drilling in 2023. This first drilling will highlight the identified potential on the perimeters on
which Sonatrach operates with partners. These are two perimeters, one located in the East
between Skikda and Annaba and the second identified in the West basin of the country between
Oran and Mostaganem. The Sonatrach had concluded, in October 2018, agreements with the
French Total and the Italian ENI, concerning the exploration of offshore hydrocarbons off the
Algerian coast. Under the terms of the contract, exploration in the eastern zone at Béjaïa will be
conducted by ENI in the eastern Algerian basin, covering an area of 15,000 m2, the objective of
which is to identify the sandstone and carbonate reservoirs.