Ould Keddour: “Bureaucracy Disturbs Sonatrach, Scandals Terrified Its Staff”

Bureaucracy settled in the company, making it a bureaucratic institution rather than an economic one and making it difficult to meet its obligations to customers, Head of the National Company for Hydrocarbons, Sonatrach, Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, said.

“The whole complex will be reorganized to know where it is heading and what its objectives are. Shale gas is in Algeria and its exploitation will start sooner or later”.

Speaking at a seminar on study day on “Change Leadership”, that was dedicated to think about the strategy to strengthen the efficiency of the company and its branch in the International Center for Lectures in Algiers, Ould Keddour said: “Once I was appointed and entered office of the General Manager, I found the document of the signing that includes a large number of papers, and I was surprised that the task was not the responsibility of the General Manager”.

He acknowledged the existence of a suffocating bureaucracy at Sonatrach, which made it a bureaucratic firm rather than an economic one, adding that he almost did not find an official who knew what the official closest to him was doing, saying: “This is unbelievable and abnormal”. 

According to Ould Kaddour, the bureaucracy that stifles the institution was able to meet its obligations to customers, especially with regard to gas exports. 

The same official spoke to Sonatrach’s officials and staff: “40 million Algerians wish to be in our position, so we must be in charge of raising the challenge”.

Sonatrach’s senior official appeared confident in his speech to the Energy Minister and the company’s officials, especially as it was one of Kaddour’s few exceptions to the media, as he also made an impromptu intervention without any written paper or letter.

It was clear that Sonatrach’s General Manager had great confidence in decision-makers to change the strategy of the country’s largest company, and said: “I have the confidence of the President and the Prime Minister to do my work”.

He told reporters on the sidelines of the school day that the scandals of Sonatrach in the past years, especially from 2010, shocked and terrified the staff and officials.

“We will thoroughly review the organization of the company, especially with regard to decision making, and there must be an understanding of whether Algeria is an oil country or a gas country”.

“Sonatrach has a production capacity in the oil field but it is bound by the agreements of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and therefore we will work more and more towards the gas and petrochemical industries”. 

As for the shale gas Ould Kadour asserted that this natural resource exists and its exploitation will be sooner or later. 

“There are many studies that are waiting for us and work is also great and this requires a lot of time and must take the appropriate strategic approaches to exploit it “.