ALGIERS, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The CEO of Algeria's state-owned energy giant Sonatrach said on Friday the company plans to invest 40 billion U.S. dollars in oil and gas exploration and production between 2022 and 2026.

The year 2022 "bears promising prospect for Sonatrach's oil exploration and production," the Algeria Press Service quoted Toufik Hakkar as saying.

The company discovered three new oil fields in the first three months of this year, including a large discovery in the southeastern region of Touggourt with estimated reserves of 1 billion barrels of oil.

Although gas and oil prices have soared after the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Algeria has decided to maintain "relatively appropriate" contractual prices with all of its customers, according to Hakkar.

However, Hakkar did not rule out "recalculating the gas price" destined to Spain, without providing further details.

Through the offshore Medgaz pipeline, Algeria delivers about 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Spain each year.

Regarding Algeria's potential to meet Europe's gas needs in the midst of the Ukraine crisis, Hakkar said the company has billions of cubic meters of gas in surplus, but they are insufficient to replace Russian gas deliveries to Europe.

According to him, Algeria's production capacity will double in four years owing to its current pace of exploration, which will herald promising cooperation prospects with European customers.

Algeria produces 130 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year and 1.01 million barrels of oil per day. Enditem

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