On the morning of June 17, 2025, Algiers local time, Zhongman Petroleum & Natural Gas Group Co., Ltd. (ZPEC), officially won the bid for the Zerafa II Exploration and Development Project of Algeria's "BR2024 Tender Project". This marks ZPEC's first entry into the African oil and gas exploration market, and another major breakthrough in its strategy of parallel development of oil and gas and global resource layout.

The Zerafa II Block is the core natural gas block with the best resource endowment and the fiercest competition in this tender. In the bidding, ZPEC outperformed international oil and gas giants, including the independent bidding entity of Total (France) and the consortium of ENI (Italy) and Equinor (Norway). ZPEC continues to demonstrate its strong international competitiveness in exploration and project evaluation, localized operation strategies, and other aspects.

Sun Qi, the bidding representative of ZPEC, said in an interview with local media, "The winning of the Zerafa II Project is a milestone in the company's practice of the 'parallel development of oil and gas' strategy. In the future, the company will rely on Algeria's geographical advantages to radiate the North African oil and gas cooperation network and build a diversified supply system to safeguard national energy security."

The Zerafa II Block is located in central Algeria, in the southern part of the Gourara-Timimoun basin, the main gas-bearing basin in the country. The project is a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with an area of 38,697.73 square kilometers. This new bidding gas block, together with the existing Xinjiang Wensu Project (oil and gas), Kazakhstan Tenge Project (light oil), Kazakhstan Coastal Project (heavy oil and light oil), and Iraq MF/EBN Project (light oil), forms a synergistic layout of oil and gas, significantly enhancing the company's full industrial chain risk resistance.

As ZPEC's first anchored energy hub in Africa, Algeria, an OPEC member, has the world's 10th largest proven natural gas reserves. The Zerafa II Project is located in the most promising oil and gas basin in the country, with broad resource prospects. (Text/Photo by Sun Qi)