Waiting for the dust to settle in Algeria

Political turmoil is unsettling Algeria’s energy sector and its IOC investors

Algeria's energy sector finds itself in the firing line once more. Following the ousting of president Abdelaziz Bouteflika after mass street protests, the boss of state energy giant Sonatrach has been sacked and prosecutors are re-opening corruption investigations into the company. The sacking, and the decision to revisit a bribery investigation that stalked Algeria for a decade, has left international oil companies (IOCs) wondering how much of Sonatrach's promised reform programme can survive. Barely had the ailing and reclusive 82-year-old president bowed to two months of protests and stepped down on 2 April than army chief of staff Lieutenant General Said Salah announced judges would open