Algeria

Algeria's hydrocarbons sector accounted for 60 percent of its budget revenues, nearly 30 percent of its GDP, and over 97 percent of its export earnings in 2008, according to the U.S. State Department.

In 2009, Algeria produced a total of 2.13 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil liquids, of which 1.33 million bbl/d was crude oil. Algeria was the fourth largest crude oil producer in Africa after Nigeria, Angola, and Libya and the largest total oil liquids producer on the continent. As a member of OPEC, Algeria's crude oil production can be constrained by the group’s crude production quotas, but Algeria also produced 456,600 bbl/d of condensate and 344,000 bbl/d of natural gas liquids, all of which are exempt from OPEC quotas. Domestic oil consumption reached about 15 percent of total production, or 325,000 bbl/d, in 2009.

Algeria was the sixth largest natural gas producer in the world in 2008 after Russia, the United States, Canada, Iran, and Norway. Algeria produced 3.05 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas in 2008, of which 69 percent was exported and 31 percent was consumed domestically.

According to The Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ), Algeria held an estimated 12.2 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as of January 2010, the third largest in Africa (behind Libya and Nigeria). Algeria’s largest proven reserves are located in the eastern part of the country near the Libyan border. The Hassi Messaoud and Berkine basins are in this area. Hassi Messaoud is the country's largest producing oilfield and contains up to 60 percent of proven reserves. The Berkine basin and nearby Ourhoud fields, the second largest oil basin, have been the source of a number of recent discoveries, which have allowed Algeria to raise its production levels since 2003.

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Algeria