Algeria’s state-owned hydrocarbon firm has endured recent policy adjustments that now provide foreign investors with new opportunities. But increasing energy insecurity threatens to nullify the potential for gain. In the past month alone, two major events unfolded in the Algerian oil and gas sector that will in many ways shape the industry risk outlook for 2016. First, a source at Algeria’s state-owned hydrocarbon behemoth — Sonatrach — announced that it would begin accepting direct negotiations with foreign firms interested in purchasing stakes in 20 Algerian oil and gas fields. Emerging from the aftermath of continuously depressed oil prices, the shift represents an effort to increase revenues by way of new investors in a country where regulations have often stifled prospects. Second, on March 18th, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) launched a series of homemade mortars at Algeria’s Krechba gas plant. Though the attacks did not leave any […]