Brussels, 09/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - Algeria cannot apply a different price for its gas according to whether it is sold to Algerian companies or foreign companies set up there. At the end of last week, Algeria's Minister for Energy and Mines Salah Khebri stated that there is “a single fuel rate for all”. We cannot ask foreigners to pay more than Algerians, he said, since Algeria's laws do not provide for this. The issue of the “dual price” was raised at the start of the trade negotiations with the EU, as the practice is considered discriminatory at the WTO.
According to Algeria's official news agency APS, Khebri was questioned by a member of parliament who asked if it could be justified that “in a time of crisis, foreign companies could gain” from the “policy of subsidies” that is practised and “which moreover costs the (Algerian) treasury dear”. This favourable treatment is only due when their production is for the Algerian market. “When a company also produces for the external market, it is the international market price that is applied”. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)