Even before last week’s terrorist outrage at the In Aménas gasfield, Algeria was a fading star of the oil and gas industry. The country used to be the darling of the majors. Its energy infrastructure was developed by companies such as Shell, BP, Statoil and Anadarko Petroleum. During the past decade, however, arbitrary fiscal changes, crippling bureaucracy and the resource nationalism of Sonatrach, the national energy company, have made foreign investors wince. Algiers is seeking to relaunch the industry this year; there is talk of a new fiscal regime. That task has suddenly become harder.
即使在上週因阿邁納斯(In Aménas)氣田發生恐怖暴行之前，阿爾及利亞在石油和天然氣行業就已經是顆衰落的明星。該國曾是行業巨擘們的寵兒。它的能源基礎設施是殼牌(Shell)、英國石油(BP)、挪威國家石油(Statoil)和阿納達科石油公司(Anadarko Petroleum)等公司開發建設的。然而在過去十年中，武斷的財政變化、令人無所適從的官僚制度，以及阿爾及利亞國家石油公司Sonatrach的資源民族主義，令外國投資者退縮。阿爾及利亞力圖在今年重振這一行業；有傳言稱，將出臺新的財政制度。這個任務突然間增加了難度。