MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) - LUKoil [RTS: LKOH] and Algerian national petroleum company Sonatrach signed Friday a memorandum on cooperation in oil and natural gas prospecting, recovery and processing, Russia's No. 1 crude producer said.
Cooperation between the long-time partners has been expanding since President Vladimir Putin visited Algiers last March, when about 15 Russian-Algerian contracts were signed, including on cooperation in tapping hydrocarbon reserves.
Algeria has proven natural-gas reserves estimated at 4.55 trillion cubic meters, second only to Nigeria in Africa. It is also the continent's third largest producer of crude oil after Nigeria and Libya, with 111.02 billion bbl in proven reserves.
