Algerian state energy company Sonatrach is planning to invest $68 billion in the country's energy sector over the next four years, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

'We plan to invest $68 billion between now and 2016. This includes several activities,' Sonatrach CEO Abdelhamid Zerguine told a news conference.

The company has made unconventional, or shale, gas exploration a priority. Sonatrach vice-president in charge of upstream, Said Sahnoun, said the first shale gas well will be drilled in May and a second one in October this year. – Reuters