In the southern Sahara in Algeria, we are involved in the Ohanet and Rhourde Oulad Djemma (ROD) hydrocarbon developments. The Sahara is one of the world’s most important and fragile ecosystems, comparable in importance to Antarctica and the world’s tropical rainforests. Over the last two decades, the Sahara’s natural resources have been subjected to increasing pressure from commercial exploitation, including tourism, population growth, climatic variability and the unfortunate looting of cultural resources. To contribute to its conservation, we have supported the production of a series of documentary films highlighting the cultural heritage of the Sahara.
We have been working in the Sahara for some 15 years. In 2003, together with our joint venture partners and SONATRACH, the Algerian state-owned oil and gas production company, we commissioned the Ohanet development. Standing in the typical landscape of the southern Sahara – a barren, flat and stony desert surrounded by the steep rock walls of flat-topped mesas – the Ohanet central processing facility (CPF) is capable of processing 20 million standard cubic metres of gas per day through its two processing trains. The CPF is fed by a gas gathering system comprising 150 kilometres of flowlines that will connect the 47 wells required to develop the reserves.
We are also involved in the Rhourde Oulad Djemma (ROD) integrated oil development in the southern Sahara. The project involves the development of six oil fields and comprises 34 development wells and a CPF capable of processing 80 000 barrels of oil per day and reinjecting gas back into the underground reservoirs.
Throughout the development phase of both these projects, careful consideration was given to minimising the impacts of our operations on the environment, improving opportunities for local indigenous peoples and protecting and enhancing the safety and well-being of our large workforce.
It seemed appropriate for us to look at how we could contribute to the conservation of the Sahara by raising awareness in a range of stakeholders, both within Algeria and across the global community.
Capturing the Sahara’s attributes on film
Through collaboration with Dr Jeremy Keenan, an acknowledged expert in Saharan social anthropology and development studies, we agreed to fund a series of three documentary films that focus on the cultural heritage of Sahara, its archaeology, ethnology and ecology. The area is, for instance, famous for its rock art sites. The major aim of this initiative is to highlight the Sahara as a World Heritage site, increasing global awareness of its rich heritage, attracting investment, enhancing research and assisting environmental conservation.
A challenge is to make such an initiative as this sustainable. To this end we have arranged for the proceeds from the sale of the three documentaries to go to the Centre for Saharan Studies in the UK. This money will be used to fund training in areas such as environmental conservation and resource management; collaboration with local communities, Algerian academic and government institutions; specific field projects and research; and, perhaps most importantly, to provide for scholarships to cover Algerian students attending higher degree programs at the Centre for Saharan Studies in the UK.
The documentary films are now complete, and marketing of the programs to broadcasters around the globe has commenced. Dr Keenan has stated, ‘These documentary programs are a “first for the Sahara”. They will make a major contribution to raising awareness about sustainable development issues in the Sahara, both locally and globally. Raising awareness of the Sahara’s unique but threatened environmental and cultural heritage in this way is a major step towards its long-term conservation’.
Feedback
Site Map
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions