Algeria’s upper house approved a new hydrocarbons law aimed at opening up the country’s struggling energy sector on November 28, as well as passing the 2020 budget which envisions a 12th straight fiscal deficit (MEES, 1 November).
The energy sector is Algeria’s bread and butter. But underlying decline at its oil and gas fields hasn’t been matched by fresh investment. Crude output has fallen from 1.43mn b/d in 2006 to 1.03mn b/d in the first ten months of 2019. Amid surging consumption of natural gas and a three-year low output, gas exports are set for a near-quarter century low of 39.5bcm in 2019 (MEES, 22 November). (CONTINUED - 209 WORDS)