Algiers, Algeria–The CEO of Algeria’s state oil company Sonatrach has been dismissed, state TV reported Monday, the latest in more than a dozen changes of leadership at the strategic firm in 25 years.
“The president of the republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has appointed Rachid Hachichi to the position of CEO of Sonatrach group, replacing Toufik Hakkar,” the report said without elaborating.
Hakkar took over in February 2020, replacing Kamel-Eddine Chikhi who was fired after serving less then three months at the helm.
Sonatrach is owned entirely by the government, which relies on the company’s profits for about 60 percent of its budget and 95 percent of export revenues.
Hachichi had already led Sonatrach from April to November 2019, replacing Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour shortly after longtime Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced to step down in the face of mass protests.
Sonatrach has had 13 CEOs since 1999, a sign of chronic instability at the oil and gas firm, a major supplier to Europe.
In recent years it has been shaken by a series of corruption allegations and financial scandals, some of which have prompted investigations in Algeria and abroad.
Ould Kaddour in November was sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption over Sonatrach’s purchase of a refinery in Italy.