Oil companies long toed the line to avoid alienating all-powerful Sonatrach but now they're heading for the exits. Rather than handing 50% of their profits to Sonatrach the moment the oil price tops USD 30 per barrel, as a windfall tax introduced in 2006 stipulates they should, they are now steering well clear of Algeria. The companies are awaiting the outcome - expected this summer - of arbitrage that Anadarko and Maersk have sought concerning the tax. If the two win their case, Sonatrach's position will all the more vulnerable.
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