Over the past decade, U.S. companies have pulled back from operations in oil-and-gas-rich Middle Eastern and African countries they viewed as politically risky to focus on booming shale production at home.

Yet Chevron, which is the world’s second-largest Western oil company by market capitalization, recently revived talks to invest in Algeria, people familiar with the matter said. Chevron signed a memorandum of understanding with state-run company Sonatrach to investigate natural-gas opportunities in 2020 but progress had been slow until recently.

Algeria holds bigger shale gas resources than the U.S. In the past two months, Chevron has sent representatives in government relations, security and business development to the capital Algiers, some of whom have met Algerian officials, the people familiar with the matter said. The company has also hired consultants to assess the country’s shale and non-shale gas resources and its contractual terms, and to map its power circles, the people said.

Chevron Explores Algerian Gas Plans Amid Russian Sanctions – WSJ