|
|
A Special International Report
Prepared by
The Washington Times
Advertising Department - Published on July 2, 1999
[Home Page]
|
|||||
Advertisers (1) Sonatrach,
An International Petroleum Group
|
 |
Petroleum companies aware of potential says Sonatrach CEO "Communication was very poor for the seven years because we were very preoccupied by the internal situation in Algeria." Before 1990 we had good relations with the rest of the world, business, culture, political industrial, education relations. We had relations with United States, Europe, Japan, China and many other countries. But, unfortunately, during the last six years we have had internal problems and we have forgotten the obligation for us to be in contact with the rest of the world.” Attar says that during these six years, Algeria was only in the news when a bombing or massacre occurred. Now, it is time for a new message to be heard on Algeria. “Now, as you see, the domestic situation has changed completely. The mentality of the people has changed. They have become aware of the risks, not for the individual, but for the country, of what's at stake. " Algeria is engaged in a process of opening and we'll never go back again. It's impossible. People know now that the internal situation has stabilized. Security has improved in an extraordinary way. The country's economy, in spite of the problems we have had, is better than in the majority of African countries. The standard of living is a lot better than in many other countries.”
He believes that, of all American industries, only the petroleum industry knows Algeria. That is a pity because it is a country with potential. The petroleum companies know it because they have been present there for the past 10 years. " If you compare the investment in R and D in hydrocarbons in Algeria during the past 10 years, it is the eight American companies that have invested more than the 30 other (hydrocarbon) companies who have invested here. But they have also succeeded in turn; they have made fantastic discoveries. Anadarko has discovered two giant fields, one of which is in the first phase of production at Hassi Birkine and will inaugurate the second phase soon. " Anadarko has made the biggest discovery in Algeria and is one of the biggest partners. BP Amoco is the second biggest. Arco is present as are Philips, Union Texas, Mobil, Louisiana - Burlington Resources, BP, Anadarko.They invest; they are working for development. “Look at the partnerships between Sonatrach and the engineering, contracting, constructing, procurement companies. Haliburton is here, Kellogg, Brown and Root. We have a joint venture with Air Products for helium production. We have a joint venture with General Electric also, Attar says. Imports of equipment for the petroleum industry come largely from the United States as well. “Of the 22 LNG trains we have, 19 are American, group vice president of Sonatrach, Benamar Berrouayel said. " The troubles have had an effect but not a big negative one, " said Attar. " The biggest proof of the awareness of the Algerian potential are the big oil companies which benefited from the investment made in that period. " Terorism, although often believed to be a major barrier to industry, has not stopped the development of the petroleum industry, Attar said. " Our relations with the foreign companies obliged us to spend more money on security - but we continued to work normally with our partners. I asked the manager of a big American company if this situation was going to present a problem. He said 'not for us. It's just a cost problem”.
Mr. Berrouayel added: "The terrorists have never been able to do what they wanted to.They have tried. There have been pipelines damaged, sabotage, but we have learned to react. They have never really succeeded. Production has never been interrupted. " We have 15,000km of pipe.- 22,000 if you include gas, managed by Sonelgaz for oil, gas, LPG. We take the gas up to cities and supply it to public companies for distribution. There's a pipeline going to Italy and there's another going to Spain - part of which was built in the height of the terrorism . They were pushing us saying we could not do it on time - but we were ahead of schedule. We built it in six months. "It is necessary to be transparent and frank about this. " He added that the pipelines were not easy to protect because of sheer length. But the company had increased its capabilities and now use advanced technology, helicopters and transmission equipment to safeguard the pipes. The company had also improved repair techniques when an explosion did take place . "In the beginning it would take two weeks to repair, "' said Attar. " Now we can do it quickly. There was an explosion on a 48-inch pipeline. We repaired this in exactly 24 hours. They (terrorists) know that we have the capacity of repairing very quickly. They are probably running out of stocks. It is significant that they have no capability of doing anything in the cities or against the military. Originally they tried to carry out spectacular actions. They had prepared this for several years - before 1990. They had been stocking up. Although the terrorist movement prepared itself to destroy everything around it, it has not done so. In fact, “terrorism has really decreased - three or four years ago it was very difficult to travel in Algeria - all the people were scared of moving about. Today the Algerians have started to travel again, said Attar. In addition, Algerians have learned about democracy. “It is the only country in the Arab world where we have been going to the polls regularly during the last 10 years. Democracy is making big steps in Algeria. Since 1997 we have begun to see the end of the tunnel.”
" We have just had elections. Many people placed them in doubt - they predicted that they would be catastrophic.First ,there was a democratic election campaign, like none that has ever been seen in any Third World or Arab country. Everyone agrees that the elections took place without any major incident. Attar believes the time is right for Algeria to come out of isolation and come to full bloom. But, it still faces challenges. Algeria has great people, but much uemployment. “But rather than being a danger, it is a force to have young qualified people. We are going to have to use all our intelligence - not only in the petroleum sector but for the whole country. "We have vast resources. Algeria can employ more than 30 million people. We have the resources to feed them, to give them work - not necessarily riches. We have hydrocarbon reserves to continue to produce oil and gas for a minimum of 40 years, and that even if we don't make any new discoveries. “ Algeria is optimistic."The mining resources of Algeria are extraordinary. We have more than 2.5 billion tons of salt reserves. It is very important for its use in the petrochemical industry - some European countries import salt from Australia! We have more than 1.5 billion tons of phosphates in Algeria - three times the Tunisian reserves. We have diamonds; we have gold.” One challenge is the need to develop new ideas, particularly related to agriculture.” At the moment we import all that we eat.We have the capacity - if we use our petroleum resources to develop agriculture and mining, we can create a lot of employment.’’ The development of tourism has potential. “We have 1,200 kilometers of coast. " Algerian officials also see potential in developing the petrochemicals sector but needs investors. " We cannot do it by ourselves so we think one of the main things is to bring in the investors - they can bring not only the know-how but also the management," suggested Berrouayel. "People are one of the main resources we have today, " commented Attar. "We are trying to promote and develop the transformation of the hydrocarbons. We are trying with foreign companies to develop the petrochemicals sector. We just first need to valorize our oil, gas and condensate production and afterwards create a new transformation industry. If we can transform our propane into polypropylene we will encourage many small industries and create employment.” For some years, Sonatrach was removed from petrochemical and services activities and only was involved in research, production, transport and commercialization; however a new reorganization brought all the refining and petrochemical activities back into Sonatrach. “Today we are the main actors. In petrochemicals there was practically nothing in Algeria and today we are trying to restart this activity. Especially in partnership because this needs hundreds of millions of dollars. We are trying to interest partners by explaining our plans, inviting them to come to Algeria. " The American companies have made enormous discoveries. In the next 10 years they are probably going to reach 400 to 500 thousand barrels a day. Forty percent of the Algerian production will be produced in partnership with American companies. One challenge is to obtain more financing from American financial institutions. “On a short term we have found financing for all the procurement we import from the US but only over three years. We are asking Eximbank to open the long term facilities so that we are going to have capability to invest more in the hydrocarbon sector. " Every dollar spent in Algeria will help create employment here and maintain another job in the United States especially in the technological sector.” This link between American and Algerian jobs would be stronger with more direct flights. " We tried to bring direct flights to the States a year ago, with Continental Airlines, offering to contribute - even going so far as offering to finance the flights from Houston to Hassi Masssaoud completely in the beginning. There are many American people who live and work here who go back every month or six weeks. Now they have to return through Europe. They said there was problem of security, said Attar. However, there is no problem of security in Hassi Massauoud . “In fact, it is safer there than in Houston or in Washington. But we are continuing and maybe there will be a possibility to open this new line in partnership with Algerian Airlines or Continental Airlines. " Attar confirmed that Sonatrach is also trying to support communication inside and outside Algeria. "We have recently sponsored the publication of a book on the ancient history of Algeria , a history of 5000 years, in French. We are also sponsoring the publication in English. Sonatrach, although it is a petroleum company, as a state company it tries to participate in our way in the diffusion of an image as real as possible of the Algeria. We have held a large number of conferences for the petroleum industry during the last year. We have held many conferences .Each time we try to present Algeria in a general fashion. What is the country, what is its history, religion, economy, culture, population?” Sonatrach also sponsors a foundation, Sonatrach Tassili. The object of this foundation is to promote the cultural aspects of Algerian life, specifically archaeological work - research work on preservation of the environment and heritage and to present a new image of Algeria to the rest of the world. "We are for partnership, whether it be American, Chinese. or Japanese or European - it does not matter. " |
|
Table of Contents (1) His Excellency Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria (2) Country has resources and potential and is moving toward peace (3) History (4) Stability predictable for Algeria (5) Terrorism is costly - in lives and finances (7) Despite being free, press sometimes is silenced (8) Local bidders and foreign investors being courted (9) Despite previous problems, economic future is bright (10) Institutions (11) Director-General sees light as country comes out of tunnel (12) Housing shortage creates enormous market for homebuilders (13) Bureaucracy remains a major barrier to investment (14) Algeria is gateway to Africa (15) A country made for Tourism (16) A Rich Heritage in Arts and Crafts (17) Casbah's unique beauty to be restored (18) Algeria Facts (19) Privatization goes forward with progress, challenges (20) Country rich in resources, civilization, ambition (21) World renowned hotel carries proud past of history and wealth (22) Fight against terrorism has helped world (23) Banking reforms, foreign investment moving quickly (24) World Bank senses new optimism in Algeria (25) Algerian-American Chamber of Commerce meets to promote trade relations (26) Ministry of Labor promotes programs to reduce unemployment (27) Agriculture potential is tremendous, but investment is needed (28) Algeria adopts new programs to solve water shortages (29) Wine growing provides export income (30) Petroleum companies aware of potential says Sonatrach CEO (31) About Sonatrach (32) Bright future ahead for oil industry (33) Huge oil resources will last for many years (34) The place of small industry in the economy (35) Country's first Bourse to open soon (36) ONAB encourages investors to grasp potential in Algeria (37) The El-Aurassi Hotel plans to go public (38) Enad hopes to partner with leading detergent producers (39) ENGG strives to improve refining system and attract foreign investment (40) Agricultural Bank plans expansion (41) Vehicle manufacturer seeks further investment |
|
Failure
to communicate with the rest of the world has been Algeria's problem, says Abdelmadjid
Attar, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of state oil giant Sonatrach.
