Tunisia: Companies weigh up the risk

The need for increased security and impact of sovereign rating downgrades by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings due to the political crisis following the assassination of opposition figurehead Chokri Belaïd on 6 February and resignation of prime minister Hamadi Jebali on 19 February – leaving another Ennahda politician, former interior minister Ali Laarayedh, to form a government – will add to the costs of operating in Tunisia, according to international oil companies canvassed by African Energy