Algerian Minister of Energy Saleh Khebri’s time was limited from the get-go and the clocked seem to speed up last month, with the buzzer finally sounding over the weekend. Khebri will be replaced by Noureddine Bouterfa, formerly the head of Sonelgaz, the state-owned utility. Algerian political figures’ fingerprints are all over Bouterfa’s promotion, but as with all things Algerian, there were no witnesses at the scene, and it’s not at all clear where Algeria’s all-important energy sector goes from here. Is the change just more post-Tewfik règlement de comptes or will Bouterfa bring new direction to a moribund sector in troubled times?
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