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Algiers - Three consortiums of foreign energy firms signed contracts on Wednesday for gas exploration in Algeria, in the first such deals since a deadly attack on a gas plant in the Sahara last year.
Algeria's hydrocarbons agency Alnaft signed two contracts with a consortium formed by Enel of Italy and Emirati firm Dragon Oil for blocs in eastern and western regions of the Sahara.
A third contract was signed with Norway's Statoil and British-Dutch firm Shell for a bloc in eastern Sahara, while Repsol of Spain and Shell have formed a consortium for Boughezoul in the north.
The firms have agreed to invest at least $150m (118m) in the first phase, covering three years, Alnaft's Sid Ali Betata told AFP.
Forty plant workers were killed in a January 2013 attack by Islamists on the isolated Sahara desert complex at In Amenas, 1 300 kilometres (800 miles) southeast of Algiers.
