Sonatrach CEO: ‘We Believe In Gas’

14 Jul 2023 Issue: 66 / 28 By: James Cockayne

Sonatrach appears to be interpreting European majors’ relatively-modest rowing back from energy transition rhetoric as proof that it was right all along to stick with oil and gas. With Algeria the most advantaged Mena country when it comes to supplying clean hydrogen to the core European market, it risks missing a major opportunity.

Noting that CEOs from the likes of BP, TotalEnergies, Eni and ExxonMobil have recently signaled that they view gas as having a firm role in future global energy supplies, Sonatrach CEO Toufik Hakkar on 10 July said that “Sonatrach believes in the future of gas and oil… More investment is needed to meet growing demand over the coming decades… to meet the needs of the country and develop its economy as well as for export.”

“We have seen the consequences of energy transition policies on those companies who moved ahead with such policies without first properly studying and evaluating [their likely effects]. The consequence was a lack of [upstream] investment which led to a surge in gas prices to never-before-seen levels even well before the ‘Ukraine crisis’,” Mr Hakkar says. (CONTINUED - 952 WORDS)