ALGERIA - Profile - Abdelhak Bouhafs.

Appointed president and CEO of Sonatrach in December 1999, Bouhafs succeeded Abdelmajid Attar, who became senior advisor at the energy and industry ministry (see overleaf). Until then Bouhafs used to be advisor on oil and gas to Bouteflika. Through the early 1990s until March 1995 he had served as president and CEO of Sonatrach. At the time he led the drive to restructure the company.

After his December 1999 appointment, Bouhafs has moved quickly. Sonatrach was already positioning itself to be an international operator by the time he took over, with a 40% stake in the Garden Block 3 permit in southern Yemen. Sonatrach has also confirmed that it is seeking new opportunities in Iraq's upstream, once sanctions are lifted, according to 'Petroleum Argus' of Feb. 7, 2000.

Bouhafs attempts at restructuring Sonatrach began in the early 1990s, but they were countered by then Premier Belaid Abdessalam who believed in centralisation and state control. As soon Abdessalam became prime minister in July 1992, he imposed tough terms on foreign oil companies bidding for E&P deals or offering partnerships in downstream projects. But Abdessalam failed to reverse some of the changes in Sonatrach as Bouhafs resisted. Abdessalam was removed from the premiership in 1993.

Bouhafs and his close aides, including Zouioueche, took up the restructuring programme in 1994 in a revised form and called it "Promos". This was to involve a "provisional reorganisation" aimed at making Sonatrach and its subsidiaries more efficient, competitive and international. Some of the subsidiaries had to be separated from Sonatrach's holding company and become leaner by shedding a big number of their personnel. Work on this was to begin in late November 1994. But the Sonatrach oil and gas workers' union moved against the plan and called for a three-day general strike from Nov. 27. It threatened that further strikes would be staged until the government intervened to stop the restructuring plan. Hours before the Nov. 27 deadline, agreement was reached between the union and the energy ministry.

Thus the subsidiaries in question were to be regrouped around Sonatrach. All strategic operations were to be reintegrated into the holding company and modernised. They included exploration, production, transport, oil refining, gas processing and marketing. The "provisional reorganisation" plan was to be executed in three phases. Bouhafs was in charge of the whole process. Bouhafs left Sonatrach in March 1995 and was succeeded by Zouioueche as president and CEO.