The silence of the French and European authorities against oil wells in Algeria: the lobbying of Total, the French giant in hydrocarbons, ended up paying.
In more than a year, Total has deployed all its efforts, taking the position of a pressure group, with European authorities and with the media, by encouraging them not to place the spotlight on Algerian power despite the repressions activists of the Hirak and the imprisonment of any protest leader.
Although the discourse of power, for internal consumption, castigates the old colonial power through a new doxa out of the lands of history. The slogan, badissia novembaria, attempts to mobilize a fringe of nostalgic society in the 70s, the fact remains that business with France is going well. A proven reality where the post Gaid Salah system has turned its sails towards France at maximum speed in knots.
Re-plastering the old system
Devoid of any legitimacy, Tebboune tries through the gas markets to position itself vis-à-vis an army which holds all the levers of power. He has just retired more than 14 major generals well before July 5, the usual date for promotions. As he has just reshuffled a government whose duration did not exceed 6 months. A sign of instability that never fails.
In Algeria, chance only has a place in the hearts of believers. Politicians familiar with diversionary practices have tamed it to increase the survival time of a system at the end of the cycle.
In the partial reshuffle recently carried out affects the hydrocarbon sector while the ministries of sovereignty have been spared. Abdelmadjid Attar, new energy minister replaces Mohammed Arkab assigned to Mines. It should be remembered that the supra ministry of Energy and Mines was cut in half. The Energy part includes Sonatrach, that of the mines becomes an autonomous ministry content of the aspirations of the capacity to exploit the gold sector, very promoter in the extreme south of the country.
The renewal for a period of three years of the cooperation agreement between Sonatrach and Total is very timely. The Algerian hydrocarbon company will supply the French market with liquefied gas of more than 2 million tonnes per year. Certain clauses of the agreement remain unclear. Total requires a global partnership in the exploration and processing sector where negotiations with other partners (American, Turkish, and others) are raging.
“With this agreement, Sonatrach confirms its position as a reliable partner which respects its commitments and enjoys confirmed credibility in the international energy market” adds Mr. Toufik Hekkar CEO of Sonatrach. The agreement seems to be a boon for the ninth world hydrocarbon company recently hit by a corruption scandal in the case of defective fuel with the Lebanese market denounced by MP Paula Yacoubian.
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