Zarzaitine (also written Zarzaïtine) is an industrial village in the commune of

In Amenas In Amenas (, ''‘In ’Amanās'') is a town and commune in eastern Algeria, bordering with Libya. The town is located west of the border. There is no border crossing in the area. The municipality had 7,385 inhabitants in 2008, up from 5.302 i ...

, in

In Amenas District In Amenas is a district in Illizi Province, Algeria. It was named after its capital, In Amenas. As of the 2008 census it is the largest district in the province by area and second-largest by population (after Djanet District). Municipalities Th ...

Illizi Province Illizi () is a large province (''wilaya'') in the south-eastern corner of Algeria named after its eponymous seat. It borders Ouargla Province to the north, Tunisia to the extreme northeast, Libya to the east, Djanet Province to the south and, ...

, eastern

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. It is a notable mining area, with significant deposits of

sulphur Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...

and

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

in particular.

Geography

Zarzaitine is a

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

town between Algeria and

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, located just to the northeast of

In Aménas In Amenas (, ''‘In ’Amanās'') is a town and commune in eastern Algeria, bordering with Libya. The town is located west of the border. There is no border crossing in the area. The municipality had 7,385 inhabitants in 2008, up from 5.302 i ...

. The Trapsa Oil Pipeline connects it to Edjeleh, which is located about to the south. In Aménas Airport is in the vicinity, also known as Zarzaitine Airport. Geologically this area is known as the Zarzaitine Formation, consisting mainly of red-brown sandstone, and dinosaur bones dated to the

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

have been unearthed here. The Zarzantine (Triassic) formation is found in the Marzuq Basin. The formation is reported to be thick which reduces to thickness towards the south because erosive action. Zarzaitine oil field is located in the south-eastern

Illizi Illizi (Amazigh language: Ilizi) is an Algerian town and Communes of Algeria, commune, coextensive with Illizi District, situated in the south-eastern part of Algeria, and capital of Illizi Province. According to the 2008 census it is the largest ...

basin.

History

The name Zarzaitine was given to this formation by

Albert-Félix de Lapparent Albert-Félix de Lapparent (; 1905–1975) was a French people, French Palaeontology, palaeontologist. He was also a Society of Saint-Sulpice, Sulpician priest. He undertook a number of fossil-hunting explorations in the Sahara desert. He contribute ...

and Maurice Lelubre, in 1948. Oil and gas production took off dramatically in the 1960s, becoming CREP's most productive site. and in 1962 alone 12 wells were drilled at Zarzaitine. In 1961, Zarzaitine was considered to be the largest oil field of the eastern Sahara, with primary reserves of 80 million tons. In the 21st century it is still an important oil site in Algeria; in 2002, Chinese company

Sinopec China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Group, is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Chaoyang District, Beijing. The SASAC administers China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation for the benefit of State Council of the ...

signed a $525 million contract with the national Algerian oil company

Sonatrach Sonatrach (; ) is the national state-owned oil company of Algeria. Founded in 1963, it is known today to be the largest company in Africa with 154 subsidiaries, and often referred as the first African oil "major". In 2021, Sonatrach was the seven ...

to develop the Zarzaitine oil field. It is estimated that Algeria produces two million tons of crude from this oil field annually.

References

Neighbouring towns and cities

{{Illizi Province Populated places in Illizi Province In Amenas District Natural gas fields in Algeria Energy in Algeria