In Amenas attack clouds North Africa outlook

Trail of destruction: men look at the wreckage of a vehicle near Amenas

Trail of destruction: men look at the wreckage of a vehicle near Amenas

AP/SCANPIX

By NASSIR SHIRKHANI and VAHE PETROSSIAN London

 24 January 2013 23:59 GMT

Algeria was this week quick to endorse a new investor-friendly hydrocarbons law in the hope of staying competitive and heading off possible adverse long-term effects on its upstream sector after the deadly In Amenas attack.

The key feature of the legis­lation is the repeal of a windfall tax imposed on international oil companies in 2006 at a time of resurgent oil prices.

For now, oil companies in Algeria are not really thinking about future projects as they concentrate on the aftermath of the attack, and especially efforts to confirm the fates of those staff who remain un­accounted for.

Yet already there are suggestions that such legislative measures will do little to offset the damaging effect of the terrorist attack.

In any case, international players had been expecting much more…

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