Algeria and Qatar Sign for 10 Million-Ton Steel Mill and Eight Industry Accords

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Algeria and Qatar have signed an agreement to construct a steel mill at Bella, 300 kilometers east of the capital Algiers. Present at the signing were Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Qatar's Amir Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

The $2 billion steel complex will have a production capacity of 10 million tons annually, which will be reached in planned phases. This will allow Algeria to cut its total spending on imports by an estimated $10 billion, annually which represents 20% of the current total.

In a Qatari-sourced report in the first half of 2012, when the project was first announced, the name given to it was Qatari Steel International. Qatari Industries (IQ) was planning to take a 24% stake in the venture, with the possibility that Qatari Mining might take 25%, bringing the Qatari stake to 49%, which is the maximum possible level of foreign ownership as stipulated by the Algerian 49:51 investment law. IQ's stake would involve an investment of $411 million.

The report said that the plant would start operations in 2016 and that production would serve the development needs of Algeria's railway industry.

In all, eight accords were signed between the two countries. Both countries are OPEC members, and producers and exporters of natural gas. The two countries also signed a memorandum of understanding for the production and marketing of fertilizer. Qatar Petroleum and Algeria's Sonatrach signed an accord for cooperation on fuel and petrochemicals. Other accords covered the maritime transport, mining and oil and gas sectors. Sources said that the total investment of the energy, mining and industry agreements was about $5 billion.

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