Amid controversy over its role in North Africa, Turkey has reached an agreement for joint oil and gas exploration with energy-rich Algeria. Still, questions linger over the viability of such a venture.

Speaking after talks in Algiers on Nov. 10, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said that Turkey’s state-run petroleum company TP and its Algerian counterpart, Sonatrach, would set up a joint company for oil and gas exploration in Algeria and other regional countries. 

The details of the plan remain unknown, but it raises the specter of financial challenges for a country that is already grappling with economic turmoil, including a foreign currency crunch, according to Ali Arif Akturk, a former senior executive at Turkey’s state energy importer BOTAS and oil company Genel Energy.

Exploration is “the riskiest part of the business” and requires the use of one’s own resources because of the slim chances of finding loans for such projects, Akturk told Al-Monitor. “I cannot say whether [the Algerian government] could offer fields where gas and oil discoveries are more likely or grant [the joint company] some competitive advantages. But Turkey is hardly on a competitive level in terms of exploration and production,” he noted.