The drilling at second Hassi Ba Hamou exploration well in Algeria has begun, it has been revealed.

Algerian oil company Sonatrach, BG Group and Gulf Keystone Petroleum are working on the Hassi Ba Hamou Perimeter (HBH Permit), which covers 18,380 km2 in the Allal Dome of Central Algeria.

The HBHN-1 exploration well, which is the second well to be drilled of a six well commitment on the HBH Permit, was spudded on February 21, 2008.

Three appraisal and three exploration wells are to be drilled back to back in the first exploration phase of the licence which expires in September 2008.

Licensees of the HBH Permit are Gulf Keystone 38.25 per cent, BG Group 36.75 per cent and Sonatrach 25 per cent. Gulf Keystone farmed out 36.75 per cent of the HBH Permit to BG Group effective December 2006.

Christopher Garrett, the company's vice-president of operations, who has over 29 years relevant experience within the sector and who has been involved with this project for over 2 years and meets the criteria of a qualified person under the AIM guidance note for mining, oil and gas companies, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this announcement.

“Early interpretation of both the 2D and 3D seismic data, over the Hassi Ba Hamou Permit, has revealed a number of leads and we are pleased that this second well continues the good progress being made towards completion of the six well programme," said chairman and chief executive officer Todd Kozel. – TradeArabia News Service