Owing to the advantageous conditions offered by the 1986 Hydrocarbons Law, modified in 1991, more than thirty research & production and prospecting agreements have been entered into between the national company Sonatrach and foreign partners.

Today, engineers, technicians and foreign company managers work on the various hydrocarbons research, production and development blocks. The outlook are full of promise and could exceed 60 billion cubic meters of gas exported/year, and a production of over 50 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons.

The mining field, with phosphate, iron, nonferrous metals, useful substances, precious metals, contained in the Algerian subsoil offers an appreciable potential still to be raised.

In order to make the energy and mining field meet the operating conditions of a free market and competitive economy, the State took over its treble role of a landowner, an investments promoter and a protector of the public interest, thus releasing the public companies from these functions and let them manage fully and solely their economic activities.

In this regard, the companies of this sector are adjusting their structures and management to the transparency and discipline requirements imposed by the market economy, so as to ensure competition in all the upstream and downstream activities, except for the natural monopolies to be regulated by the State.

In the same time, a greater and more varied participation of the private sector in the energy and mining field will have to be accelerated and promoted in order to make the latter play its role of : a mover in the investments growth; maker wealth and jobs; strategic partner; technology, know-how, management, financing and access source to the foreign markets.

Lastly, with a view to protect our citizens' health, preserve our environment and our energy resources, an effort has been made to guarantee the enforcement of an adequate regulation, and favour through a tax system the use of less polluting energy products. A particular action was taken for the development of renewable energies.

National competencies are necessary for a long-lasting development of our economy and more particularly this sector. Trade associations and design offices are promoted in the framework of works required for the reforms considered in the industry.

Policy principles in the energy and mining field are subject to the legislative, regulatory and institutional changes as well as the setting of new regulatory institutions by the State.