ALGIERS, Aug 2, 2012 (AFP)
ALGIERS, Aug 2, 2012 (AFP)
Algeria’s Sonatrach expects to import at least 2.5 million tonnes of fuel in 2012, the state energy firm’s CEO was quoted as saying on Thursday, as the OPEC country struggles to meet soaring local demand.
The surge in domestic consumption will require the company to import two million tonnes of diesel — up by 700,000 tonnes from 2011 — and 500,000 tonnes of petrol this year, Abdelhamid Zerguine said, according to the official APS news agency.
Algerian fuel imports have shot up in recent years — rising to 2.3 million tonnes in 2011, from just 1.3 million tonnes in 2010 — with particularly strong demand for cheap diesel, on which the industrial and farming sectors depend.
Despite Algeria’s growing fuel imports bill — Sonatrach spent $2 billion on diesel and petrol imports last year — it posted a $15.8 billion trade
in the first half of 2012, according to official figures published on Wednesday.
But major energy sector projects have suffered severe delays, compounded, according to analysts, by a 2009 corruption scandal at the top of the company that led to the jailing of a former Sonatrach CEO and caused decision-making paralysis.
The North African oil and gas exporter has for years been seeking to revamp and expand its ageing refineries, which together have a capacity to process 22 million tonnes per year of crude oil.
Speaking during a trip to the Skikda refinery, Algeria’s largest, Zerguine said Sonatrach’s vast renovation programme to upgrade its three main refineries, along with plans to build four new ones, would enable the country to boost its refining capacity to 42 million tonnes a year within five years.
He said the long-term target was to achieve a refining capacity of 52 million tonnes a year.
