Madrid - Algeria has rescinded a 5.2-billion-euro (7-
billion-dollar) natural gas project with the Spanish companies Repsol
YPF and Gas Natural, Spanish media reported Tuesday, placing the
decision in the context of a nationalist search for energy control.
Repsol and Gas Natural announced Monday that the state-owned
Algerian energy company Sonatrach had cancelled a contract granted to
them in 2004 to exploit, produce and liquefy reserves from the Gassi
Touil gas fields.
The project, in which the Spanish firms had already invested some
600 million dollars, was described as the only large-scale energy
venture controlled by foreign partners in Algeria.
Repsol and Gas Natural said the move was illegal and pledged to
seek damages through international arbitration.
The Algerian decision was seen as a big blow to the Spanish
companies, which are seeking to secure supplies after energy
nationalizations in Venezuela and Bolivia.
The Algerian decision was also placed in a nationalist context by
Spanish analysts, though Algiers has justified it by accusing the
Spanish companies of delays in building a new gas terminal.
Spain and Algeria have also differed over gas prices, and their
political relations have been affected by disagreements over the
Western Sahara conflict.
Repsol had a 39 per cent, Sonatrach a 35 per cent and Gas Natural
a 26 per cent stake in the Gassi Touil joint venture.
A new Algerian energy law, however, requests the state company to
hold at least 51 per cent of ventures in the energy sector.
Rising energy prices had given Sonatrach the possibility of doing
without foreign partners at a time when oil and gas have become
nationalist concerns in many producing countries, the daily El Pais
commented.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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