Sonatrach's former CEO Mohamed Meziane jailed

Sonatrach's former CEO, Mohamed Meziane, has been sentenced to two years in prison - one of which was suspended - and ordered to pay a fine of around $7,000, for embezzlement of public funds. Meziane was suspended from his job in January 2010 while being investigated for corruption.

Several other top Sonatrach officials were also investigated and later fired along with Meziane. Four other defendants in the case, including Abdelhafid Feghouli, Benamar Touati, Mekki Henni and Nechnech Tidjini, were also sentenced to one year in jail. All five men pleaded innocence.

Meziane was appointed in September 2003 to oversee the running of Algeria's biggest firm which employs 125,000 people and has reportedly made $9.2 billion profit in 2008 for an annual turnover of $80.8 billion.

The ruling came amid rising unrest over lack of progress with reforms as promised by Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Sources: WSJ, AFP, Bloomberg, Reuters

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

Algeria to put pressure on foreign investors for technology transfer

Algeria's Energy Minister has said that the government is determined to put pressure on international oil companies to share technology with Algeria instead of simply extracting oil and gas out of the ground.

Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi addressed international media, in Canada, about the country's energy policy for the first time since his appointment in May. His stance seemed to reflect that of Algeria's government in moving toward economic nationalism.

"There is a need for a bigger partnership in industry, a partnership in manufacturing equipment and the transfer of technology, not the partnership of a seller and a buyer. This is a requirement which we are going to impose more and more," said Yousfi.

Earlier this month Algeria launched a new oil and gas licensing round to be completed by March 2011. It was not clear, however, whether technology transfer would be included as a requirement in the round.

The upcoming licensing round will be an important one for Algeria, as the previous two attracted little interest from foreign investors due to, according to several oil executives, the fact that the terms were not attractive enough.

Source: Reuters

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

Expro awarded well testing contract in south west Algeria

Expro has been awarded a well testing contract in south west Algeria. The comapny will supply specialist well testing services and equipment on up to nine wells by the start of September 2010.

Expro's portable processing equipment measures the expected performance of a well. The process involves flowing the well through a provisional completion and production system to measure pressure and flow rates, and gather fluid samples. These measurements are used to determine commercial viability, as well as to plan potential completion and production facilities.

“This is a fantastic win for the Expro MENA team, with our work in Algeria becoming a significant part of our business. Well testing has been a strong sector of Expro's offering for over 35 years and the knowledge and experience of the collective team ensures we always deliver above and beyond for our customers. This is a deserved win,” said, Expro's director for MENA region, Nigel Meany.

To find out more about Expro please visit Expro's web site, which you can find here.

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria please see Algeria Focus, Sahara Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2010 Menas Associates

Algeria puts Hassi Messaoud construction contract on hold

A Reuters report this week confirmed what we have already reported, namely that Algeria has put on hold the large Hassi Messaoud construction contract it had earmarked for Canada's SNC-Lavalin as part of a major overhaul of Sonatrach’s dealings with contractors.

SNC-Lavalin , Canada's biggest engineering company, had been named as preferred bidder for a contract to rebuild Hassi Messaoud, the hub of Algeria's oil industry.

"We were waiting to sign the contract," Leslie Quinton, SNC-Lavalin's Vice-President for Global Corporate Communications, said in an email to Reuters. "A few weeks ago, it was announced that the process was suspended, pending further studies and additional evaluation."

According to a report in El Khabar on 30th June, a total of 160 contracts which Sonatrach had agreed with suppliers and contractors had been put on hold pending a review.

Oil and gas permits awarded to foreign energy firms are reportedly not affected. However, new rules will apply to all international energy services firms operating in Algeria, which include companies such as Schlumberger, Baker Hughes and Halliburton.

For more news and expert analysis please Sahara Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.

© 2010 Menas Associates