Algeria hopes to get back on track

摘要

A year on from the deadly Islamist attack and military response that left 40 foreign oil workers dead at the In Amenas gas plant,Algeria hopes to draw new interest from upstream investors with a long-awaited licensing round. Algeria’s oil and gas output fell by 4pc on the year to 190mn t of oil equiva-lent(3.8mn boe/d)last year,state-owned oil company Sonatrach chief executive Abdelhamid Zerguine says.Algeria needs to revive its exploration success to sus-tain its longer-term natural gas export plans and offset a likely drop in its 1.5mn b/d crude production capacity from next year.Upstream regulator Alnaft on 22 January announced details of an oil exploration licensing round,with awards due by September.