Algerian former official calls for amending fuel law

Former Director General Algerian Sonatrach governmental company Abdel Maguid Attar said that his country faces serious energy challenges in the light of the financial and economic crisis witnessed in the country during the current period and the notable decline in the oil prices.

He added, in an interview with “Arabs Today”, that Algerian government is demanded to keep production capacity of Algerian oil and gas, saying that it should depend on advanced technologies to manage existing fields in order to improve production. He stressed that Sonatrach is demanded to increase its discoveries due to the decline of oil production in the largest fields of oil in the country.

He expected that the gas prices will witness a state of stability during the coming period on the international markets, saying that the developments witnessed in Syrian could negatively affect the international markets of oil. He added that Algeria will keep its position as the first supplier of oil to a large number of European countries.

Regarding the Italian decision to freeze the import of gas from Algeria, he said, “If Italian companies decided to freeze the import of gas from Algeria, they would pay compensations to the Algerian authorities for violating the contracts concluded between the two parties.”

On the other hand, the economic expert expressed his support for the decision to review Algerian Fuel Law to cope with the current position of the Algerian market. He added that the current law does not cope with the recent developments witnessed in the international market.

He called on the Algerian government to postpone the fifth international tender for exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons for several reasons, saying that the most important of these reason is that the price of $ 50 a barrel and the hydrocarbon law currently in force will not attract major international companies to participate in it.

The Algerian former official proposed a range of alternatives to oil wealth to ensure Algeria's energy independence under the world's technological and economic transformations, most notably solar energy as a future alternative and energy conservation for future generations.