Algeria - Profile - Abdelmajid Attar.

President and CEO of Sonatrach since July 14, 1997, Attar has been close to Yousfi for years. It was Minister Yousfi who appointed him to this post to replace Nazim Zouioueche, who had become president and CEO of Sonatrach on March 22, 1995. Zouioueche had replaced Abdelhak Bouhafs, who started a major effort to restructure Sonatrach in 1994. Attar, then 51, was elevated from the post of director of the Exploration and International Affairs Division at Sonatrach. A geologist with a friendly attitude and a good listener, he quickly made his mark on the company as he speeded up its restructuring. Among his tasks, he was to finalise ongoing PSAs with foreign companies, sign new E&P and EOR deals, and launch a big campaign to attract foreign investors in new downstream ventures. Attar's programme is to turn Sonatrach by 2000 into an international oil, gas and industrial group operating throughout the energy chain, including power generation, and in chemicals and related services. Attar is also a member of the National Council of Energy (CNE). Attar completed another phase of Sonatrach's restructuring in early 1998, when the NCE approved the splitting of non-core activities into separate firms and converting the group into a joint-stock company with a capital of AD245,000m ($4,100m) entirely subscribed by the state. Also in early 1998, Sonatrach absorbed the petrochemical company ENIP. With Attar as president and CEO, a new Sonatrach board of directors was formed under the chairmanship of Minister Yousfi. Attar became answerable to the board. In March 1998 a presidential decree gave Sonatrach new legal statutes which defined the company's role and the horizons of its development. Key executives under Attar now are the following: Mourad Preure, Attar's top advisor, is the point man for new Sonatrach ventures - upstream and downstream - and contacts with foreign companies for ventures outside Algeria. Under the presidency of Zouioueche and that of Bouhafs, Preure used to be in charge of strategy on the restructuring of Sonatrach, under a programme called "Promos". Hacne Yassine is the director for joint E&P ventures, PSA with foreign firms and production, a post he took in 1990. He is aided by Mohammed Hamel, in charge of research, planning and forecasting, and Dr. Mohammed Oussalem Benamrane who supervises the activities of foreign E&P partners. Attar used to be one of Yassine's aides until he became head of exploration and international affairs in 1995. From 1977 to 1989, Yassine was in charge of contracts and international litigation at the energy ministry and in 1986 he took part in the drafting of the hydrocarbon law which was promulgated in that year. Abdelhamid Bensaid is a vice president of Sonatrach responsible for gas liquefaction and processing. He plays a key role in the promotion of new projects, including downstream industries on which he made presentations abroad in 1998. Jemal Mourad is head of Sonatrach's gas marketing division. Ahmed Messili, part of his division, is general manager of In Salah Gas. ISG is a JV of British Petroleum and Sonatrach formed in The Hague in April 1997 to market gas in Europe (see OMT 8). Hamrour Abderrahmane is chairman of Groupe Raffinage et Chimie des Hydrocarbures (GRC), which was set up in June 1996 as a Sonatrach unit to take over the oil refining and petrochemical sectors. He is aided by Chawki Rahal, director for the refining and petrochemical ventures. Abderrahmane joined Sonatrach's refining and petrochemical division in 1967. He became deeply involved in the definition and launching of major downstream projects in the country. His task has covered selection of process licensors and negotiations with engineering contractors. Hammoutene Ramdane is chairman of Groupe des Services aux Hydrocarbures (GSH), formed in June 1996 to focus on well services, drilling and geophysics. Hasni Tewfik is chairman of Groupe des Travaux et de Maintenance d'Installations Industrielles (GRM), set up in June 1996 to be responsible for construction, maintenance, engineering and technology development. Zohra Talantikite is head of planning. She has been active in the promotion of new petrochemical and refining projects which require foreign partners. M. Mecheraoui is the director of International Affairs in Sonatrach. From July 1997, he assumed some of Attar's functions as the latter became Sonatrach's CEO.