Know North Africa

Algeria • Libya • Morocco • Mauritania • Tunisia

 

Market Entry Services

NARCO offers market entry services to introduce clients to a wide-range of industry stakeholders.

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In-person Briefings

NARCO leadership and analysts are available for in-person briefings and conference calls.

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Multiclient Reports

NARCO periodically markets Multiclient Reports on the hydrocarbons sector in different North African countries.

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Crisis Communication

In limited instances, NARCO will provide crisis communication management for clients.

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About North Africa Risk Consulting

North Africa Risk Consulting, Inc. is a political risk firm specializing in North Africa & the Sahara. NARCO has extensive experience helping firms navigate Maghreb markets. Recent events in North Africa and the Sahara have heightened the need to understand political circumstances, their trajectories and implications for the business environment. Learn more about North Africa Risk Consulting.

Terrorist Targeting of the Libyan O&G Sector

2015/02/27

While the hydrocarbons sector in Libya has been the focal point of social unrest and political violence ever since the fall of Muammar Qadhafi’s regime in 2011, it is only in the last two months that Libya’s oil sector has been targeted by jihadis for the purposes of terrorism. On the one hand, this development is due to the changing security landscape in Libya. On the other hand, it may be the influence of a report released in December 2014 by Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s group, the Mourabitoun, exhorting jihadis to attack oil installations and providing a “how-to” guide based on his group’s own experience attacking the Tigantourine gas facility at In Amenas, Algeria in 2013. What this development means, though, is that not only are competing political groups in Libya fighting for control of Libya’s hydrocarbons sector, but there now appear to be jihadis bent on destroying it.

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NARCO Analysis: How Risky is Libya's IS

2015/02/16

By now everyone knows about (but should not watch) the Islamic State (IS) video showing the murders of 21 Egyptian Copts. IS’s presence in Libya was already widely recognized by Libya analysts, but the Copts’ gruesome murder has made IS’s Libyan presence known to a much wider audience – which was precisely what the video was supposed to do. Nonetheless, there are significant differences between the Libyan operating environment and IS’s area of operations in Iraq and Syria. In fact, these differences may serve to amplify IS’s capabilities in Libya and make it appear to be a larger threat than it actually is. For the business environment, Libya has sadly ceased to matter, but IS’s emergence in Libya has important implications for Tunisia and Algeria.

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North Africa Round Up (Jan. 2015)

2015/02/02

Yet again North African countries are following different courses as 2015 gets underway. Even so, with the exception of Libya, whose oil and gas problems are much more profound, the question of shale gas exploitation is an emerging theme. Likewise, all North African countries are grappling with jihadi activity of one kind and another. Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria, however, are as politically divergent as could be. Morocco has been quiet politically and in the oil and gas sector as well. The NARCO North Africa Round Up for January looks at Algeira, Libya, and Tunisia. We'll get back to Morocco as events merit.

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NARCO Analysis: Algeria Shale Gas Risks

2015/01/27

Shale gas protests are posing problems in southern Algeria, but shale exploitation will likely continue.

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