Algeria’s oil and gas regulator, ALNAFT, offered seven onshore blocks to investors at African Energy Week in Cape Town, pitching exploration acreage in established oil and gas basins.
The 2026 bid round was launched April 19 and covers seven perimeters in the Illizi, Berkine, Oued Mya, Amguid and Benoud basins. Technical and commercial offers are due by Jan. 25, 2027, and ALNAFT plans to conclude contract signatures with national oil company Sonatrach by March 31, 2027.
What the seven onshore blocks offer
Idri Mohand Laid, who heads hydrocarbon mining domain promotion at ALNAFT, and Yasmine Deramchi, the agency’s upstream promotion director, presented the opportunities in Cape Town. They outlined Algeria’s resource potential, existing infrastructure and the routes open to international companies.
Industry coverage says the blocks sit mostly around existing oil and gas fields in the Berkine and Illizi basins, in areas the regulator describes as surrounded by mature fields and ongoing exploration and development.
More than 50 companies have registered interest, according to information presented at the event. Deramchi said ALNAFT also uses study agreements to help companies assess opportunities before they commit money.
Why Algeria is pitching now
Ahead of the formal round, ALNAFT ran a nomination process that let international companies assess a portfolio of 24 onshore blocks and express interest.
Algeria wants more gas. One industry newsletter says the country aims to raise annual gas production to about 200 billion cubic meters by 2030, up from roughly 137 billion in 2025. A trade publication says Algeria is also positioning itself as a reliable supplier to Europe after recent energy disruptions.
What investors have heard before
ALNAFT has pitched at African Energy Week before. In 2024, it presented six onshore conventional blocks in Cape Town, and its then president, Mourad Beldjehem, told investors Algeria has worked with international oil companies for more than 35 years without contract problems. “A contract is a holy document,” he said.
He also said Algeria had moved from one contract type to three: production sharing, concession and risk service contracts.
Competition for investors is fierce at the same event. Cameroon’s national hydrocarbons company launched a 2026 bid round for six exploration blocks across three basins, and Liberia is promoting a direct negotiation licensing round.
The conference, which runs Oct. 12 to 16 at the Cape Town International Convention Center, expects more than 10,000 delegates, including ministers, state oil companies, operators and financiers.
Bidders face practical questions. Terms for partnership with Sonatrach, fiscal rules and data access decide whether acreage turns into drilling, and the timetable leaves investors about three months to submit offers.
Not every block will attract bids, and explorers will weigh Algeria’s mature acreage against newer frontier plays elsewhere in Africa, where infrastructure is often thinner.
Algeria is selling proximity. Its seven onshore blocks sit near existing fields and infrastructure, which can lower the cost of success. Whether that is enough to win bids will become clear when offers close on Jan. 25, 2027, and when ALNAFT announces which companies it is ready to sign.
