Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad spoke on Wednesday February 24, 2021 on the case of Sonatrach’s acquisition of the Augusta refinery in Italy.
While announcing that the economic and financial judicial pole has opened a judicial inquiry concerning the acquisition of this refinery, Abdelaziz Djerad said that an international arrest warrant has been issued by the investigating judge against the main accused in this case.
Djerad does not cite him by name, but he is the former CEO of Sonatrach, Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, currently abroad. The latter was at the head of the Sonatrach group when the Augusta refinery was bought out from the American multinational ExxonMobil. Ould Kaddour even defended this acquisition.
The prime minister said that justice will prosecute those responsible for corruption cases wherever they are and attempts to damage the national economy.
Abdelaziz Djerad spoke in a speech from Hassi R’mel (Wilaya of Laghouat) on the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the nationalization of hydrocarbons and the 65th anniversary of the creation of the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA).
Recall that in July 2020, the court of Bir-Mourad-Raïs (Algiers) decided to initiate an investigation to locate the responsibilities in the acquisition by Sonatrach of the Augusta refinery in Italy.
The justice system remanded the former vice-president of the Sonatrach group Ahmed Mazighi and adviser to the former CEO of Sonatrach Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour. He is being prosecuted for squandering public money and abusing his office.
The outgoing Minister of Energy, Abdelmadjid Attar, confirmed at the end of August that the case of this refinery was before the courts. “When I was informed of the project (takeover of the Augusta refinery, editor’s note), I was told it was a good deal, it will reduce our imports, we will be able to process Algerian crude. I said it’s a good deal. But in the end, the issue is quite different, “the energy minister said on the LSA Direct program on Soir d´Algérie. Attar had added that the file of this refinery is in Justice and preferred not to talk too much about it and let Justice do its job.
Over $ 700 million for a 70-year-old refinery
After signing the sale agreement with Esso Italiana, the Italian subsidiary of ExxonMobil, in May 2018, Sonatrach concluded the sale of the Augusta refinery on December 1, 2018.
Sonatrach said at the time that “the scope of this transaction includes the Augusta refinery, the three oil terminals in Palermo, Naples and Augusta, as well as the interests in pipelines connecting the refinery to the various terminals”.
Much ink has been spilled over the acquisition, both on its $ 725 million purchase deemed exorbitant for a 70-year-old refinery. Also, Sonatrach had put forward the fact that the refinery was going to process Algerian crude, and thus fill the national deficit in refined products.
But, in reality, the Augusta refinery was designed for crudes of medium and heavy densities and not for light crude of the category that Algeria produces.
The national company also found itself forced to contract a loan of 150 million dollars from the Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation Apicorp for the purchase of crude from Saudi Aramco for the same refinery of Sonatrach in Italy. She even took out loans for maintenance work on the refinery, which is in the order of $ 100 million.
For example, nearly a billion dollars was spent by Sonatrach to buy a seven-decade-old refinery from its former US owner ExxonMobil.
