Algeria: Government 'nationalises' oil sector!

High international oil prices have emboldened Algeria to make a u-turn on earlier attempts at liberalising the sector. Algeria, which was a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), has slapped a windfall tax on surplus profits as well as curtailed the role of foreign investors in oil production in a set of new amendments for the sector. The new provisions require that state-owned Sonatrach, Africa’s largest company by revenue, take a mandatory minimum 51 percent stake in all exploration and production ventures.