President Bouteflika: “Algeria needs to step up investment and exploration in its energy sector”

Algeria needs to “invest more … in the development of its hydrocarbon potential, intensifying research efforts and exploration, » President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said Monday in a statement quoted by the APS news agency. 

• “Algeria needs to step up investment and exploration in its energy sector, the pillar of the North African country’s economy”, he added.
• The president called for the government to draft a “real action plan” on the development of renewable energy sources.
• “We must … mobilize domestic financing and encourage the entry of high level foreign partners to explore our large reserves of iron and phosphate, for example,” he asserted.
• Bouteflika also called for a “re-evaluation of petrochemical industry projects” in order to “create a downstream industry”, at a government meeting dedicated to energy and mining sectors.
• Energy and Mines Minister Youcef Yousfi forecast growth in output of hydrocarbons thanks to an “effort to optimize the exploitation of deposits”.
• Algeria intends to invest 286 billion dollars in its energy sector according to its 2010-2014 energy sector plan.