The oil markets have gained momentum in recent weeks. Indeed, black gold prices are on an upward trend following the announcement, last December, of the launch of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine. This price increase is supposed to boost Algeria’s financial revenues. But there are some factors that the country is not going to really benefit from.
This substantial increase in oil prices will not have immediate effects on Algeria’s revenues. The country has lost a lot in terms of exportable quantities and in terms of outlets to the most lucrative markets. According to figures communicated by Sonatrach, the latter only managed to export 290,000 barrels / day in January 2020. A very small amount to have a big impact on oil revenues. To this must be added the explosion of domestic consumption. The latter swallows up nearly half of Sonatrach’s gas and oil production.
Exports in free fall
Thus, last January, the quantities exported fell by 36% compared to the previous month. This predicts a decline in the country’s exports until it is no longer an exporter of oil and gas products. Algeria
is in decline in this field, it which exported three times more only a few years ago. This tumble began in 2012 without any measures being taken to deal with this decline. It worsened with the health crisis which drastically reduced oil revenues.
It should be added that the decline in exports does not only affect oil. Gas, in its natural and liquefied forms (LNG), is also affected. LNG exports in January fell by 30%. This decline in Algerian exports suggests that the benefits that the country will derive from the rise in oil prices, it will lose because of the decline in the volume of exports.
