Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal this week urged the country’s oil and gas company Sonatrach to ‘further invest’ into exploration and raise oil and gas output, as the government is facing a looming economic crisis following the sharp drop in oil prices since mid-2014.

The statement came days after President Abdulaziz Bouteflika named Amine Mazouzi as chief executive officer of Sonatrach, replacing Said Sahnoun, who acted as interim chief executive since last summer. The son of a war-veteran, Amine Mazouzi had headed Sonatrach’s strategy and planning department since 2008. Before this, he held key management roles within the company, including at Hassi Messaoud Pole division, working on optimising reservoir management at the field. Mazouzi joined Sonatrach some twenty years ago, after graduating from Ecole Centrale de Paris, one of France’s most prestigious engineering schools, and from Ecole Polytechnique in Algiers. (CONTINUED - 1111 WORDS)