LNG 16: “Algeria needs efficient strategy to vie for solid spot on European gas market”

Several experts who attended the LNG 16 conference in Oran, told Echorouk Al Yaoumi that this international encounter had yielded meager results owing to a lack of a clear-cut and efficient Algerian strategy in the field of energy in the medium and long term.  

• International energy expert, Reda Rebah, told Echorouk’s journalist on the sidelines of this major world conference in Oran that the Algerian government should ponder on a reliable energy strategy involving important investment projects in the hope of making up for the huge losses incurred by the harsh competition now going on the European market in which Algeria has a stake which should be safeguarded and promoted, he explained.
• Reda Rebah indicated that Algeria was now unable to face up efficiently in the face of the tough competition in the vital gas sector versus Russia and Qatar on the buoyant European market as these two major gas exporting countries have worked out a solid strategy involving among other things, fruitful investment schemes and brand-new technological processes which have allowed them to hold sway and grab the major shares of the market.
• For his part, International energy expert, Ahcen Bouhroum, argued that the best approach for Algeria to preserve her interests was to work out a fresh and well-devised energy strategy by having firm control on production costs and directing her gas industry towards the petrochemical industries in order to redress the balance in terms of spin-offs and other benefits.
• He also pointed out that this required shift in strategy was of paramount importance because Algeria would be utterly unable, he said, to compete with Russia, Qatar and even Yemen over the next 5 years on the fast-evolving European gas market.