Russia's Gazprom May Unfreeze Projects In Algeria If Fresh Laws Passed - Ambassador

Projects of Russian energy corporation Gazprom in Algeria have been practically frozen over the last several years, but the situation may change once the North African country passes new laws and the investment climate there improves, Russian Ambassador to Algeria Igor Belyaev said in an interview with Sputnik

ALGIERS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2020) Projects of Russian energy corporation Gazprom in Algeria have been practically frozen over the last several years, but the situation may change once the North African country passes new laws and the investment climate there improves, Russian Ambassador to Algeria Igor Belyaev said in an interview with Sputnik.

"Russian company Gazprom has been present for a long time in Algeria, and it has projects there. Over the recent years, they have been almost frozen due to changes in the law. As of now, we see that the Algerian government heads toward improving the investment climate, and this is welcomed by all partners," Belyaev said.

The ambassador went on to say that the continuation of projects requires a fresh round of legal procedures and new laws that would allow Russian companies to analyze investment opportunities.

"Once the new procedures and laws are implemented, I believe that Russian companies will study a positive change in the investment climate and will continue their work in Algeria," Belyaev added.

The ambassador noted that Russia's experts had been on the ground in the North African state since Algeria gained independence in the second half of the 20th century and "helped the country to explore natural resources."

"The Algerian government has a plan to exploit still-unused resources, as there is a huge amount of them," the ambassador said.

Algeria, along with Morocco and Egypt, is currently one of the three leading trading partners of Russia in Africa, with energy being one of the main areas of cooperation.

Russia's Rosneft and Gazprom Neft are implementing joint projects with Algerian oil and gas company Sonatrach.