Algeria’s oil and gas exports fell 12.52% in the first nine months of 2019 to $25.28 billion versus $28.89 in the same period last year, customs figures showed.
Africa’s biggest country derives 95% of its foreign revenue from oil and gas sales but it has struggled to increase output and efforts to rein in public spending to make up for lower-income have added fuel to a mass protest movement, Reuters reported.
The lower house of parliament has passed a new law aimed at making the sector more attractive to international investors who could help boost production, while still retaining a ban on majority foreign ownership of oil or gas projects.
This month Algeria also appointed Kamel Eddine Chikhi as the new chief executive of the state-run oil and gas company, Sonatrach, its tenth head in 19 years.
