Algeria’s new hydrocarbons law finally came into force on 6 January. The country’s new government hopes it will persuade international oil companies to kickstart investments into a steadily declining energy sector.

Although crude output was only down 1% year-on-year at 1.03mn b/d for 2019 (MEES, 10 January), this masks a much deeper decline from the 1.3mn b/d-plus levels reached in the mid-noughties. Gas output of 8.15bn cfd for the first nine months of 2019 was down 8% on 2018’s 8.9bn cfd, with surging domestic demand squeezing valuable exports (MEES, 22 November 2019). (CONTINUED - 908 WORDS)