PROTESTS against efforts to exploit shale gas reserves spread from remote and sparsely populated southern Algeria, where they began at the weekend, to the regional capital Tamanrasset today.

Algeria has the third-largest estimated shale gas reserves in the world, after China and Argentina.

With the country’s once-rich oil and natural gas reserves declining, the government authorised exploitation of shale gas last May.

The oil ministry announced initial success at a desert site near the oasis of In Salah, 600 miles south of Algiers, but residents began protesting there over the weekend, fearing the environmental impact of the drilling.

The demonstrations spread today to Tamanrasset, where 2,000 people protested in front of city hall, urging that the project be halted and carrying banners reading “Do not endanger our environment and groundwater.”

The local governor was unable to calm their fears after a visit on Monday and protesters are demanding to see the prime minister.