MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti) - Algeria's Sonatrach has picked up four deposits offered by Russian energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] for asset swap, Russia's industry and energy minister said Sunday.

Gazprom offered the Algerian company eight deposits for the swap of assets, said Viktor Khristenko, following the signing of a cooperation memorandum between the industry and energy ministries of both countries in Algeria.

Cooperation between the long-time partners has been expanding since Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Algeria in March 2006, when about 15 Russian-Algerian contracts were signed, including on cooperation in tapping hydrocarbon reserves.

Khristenko said Algeria is now preparing its proposals for Russia.

Algeria's proven natural gas reserves total 4.55 trillion cubic meters, the second largest reserves in Africa after Nigeria. It is also the continent's third largest oil producer after Nigeria and Libya, with 111.02 billion bbl in proven reserves.

Khristenko also said Russian and Algerian specialists will soon start mapping out ways of nuclear energy cooperation between the two countries.