Algeria: Tenders under scrutiny

Groupement Berkine, the Sonatrach-Anadarko joint venture which produces just under 150,000 b/d from the El Merk oil field, has come under scrutiny for the large number of gré-à-gré (single source) tenders it has issued over the past five years. An Algiers-based unofficial and unregistered NGO, the Association Nationale de Lutte contre la Corruption (ANLC), and the web-based news service Algérie-Focus claimed at the end of June that they had been anonymously emailed details of 1,150 gré-à-gré contracts issued by the joint venture between 2011 and 2015. ANLC secretary general Halim Feddal described the quantity of this type of contract as “a terrible situation”, as uncompetitive tendering is supposed to be the exception rather than the rule.