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Saturday, April 20, 2024 12:7 GMT
National hydrocarbon company Sonatrach has reduced by 50% its expenditure and re-examined its investment plan in the last few months, following the government’s instructions, said Wednesday, in Algiers, the company’s CEO Toufik Hakkar.In a press briefing on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of several cooperation agreements with Italian energy company ENI, Hakkar said, regarding Sonatrach’s future projects, notably in the context of the drop in oil and gas prices amidst Covid-19 crisis, that the national company has reduced by 50% its expenditure and re-examined its investment plan without affecting the production activity.“We have put off some projects, we have re-examined their execution during this period but we have maintained the exploration and production projects which are important for us,” he said.According to Hakkar, this reduction will be compensated through partnerships in order to share the costs of some projects. This requires, he added, the development of partnerships in exploration and production as part of the new law on hydrocarbons.“This law allows us discussing and proposing some projects to our partners. We have already signed several partnership agreements with large companies to share the risks related to the exploration and production,” underlined Sonatrach CEO. The objective is to ensure the country’s energy security in the medium and long terms in order to renew the country’s hydrocarbon reserves, said the official.He pointed out that the revision of the different projects didn’t affect the petrochemical sector for which investment is maintained, notably through partnerships.