MOSCOW (MRC) -- Algerian state energy company Sonatrach said it had signed a deal with French Total to set up a major petrochemical facility in Algeria, said Reuters.
Sonatrach has commissioned Total to do a feasibility study, it said in a statement. It gave no details on the scale of the investment or its production capacity, but said it will be of a "world-class standard".
OPEC member Algeria has been looking to increase foreign investment in its energy sector after several years of stagnant oil and gas production, especially as the government wants to offset the impact of a sharp fall in global oil prices.
Earlier this year, Total filed a request for arbitration against Algeria for changing profit-sharing terms on oil and gas contracts in the mid-2000s. Algeria has said it was preparing to counter the claim, but expected little impact on business.
As MRC informed earlier, Total intended to invest EUR160m before 2016 to adapt its petrochemical platform in Carling, in the Lorraine region of eastern France, and to restore its competitiveness.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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