Extract
[...] This work undoubtedly provides a better understanding of the issues related to oil in Algeria, the main driver of the country's economy. Placing oil history in national history, particularly politics, is particularly opportune since it is a matter of making the link between this industry and the political dynamics that have marked the country. One can even come to wonder, as the author seems to estimate, if the discovery of oil has not penalized the country more than it has helped it, condemning it to depend on the pecuniary ambitions of its leaders - without it being a fatality. [...]
[...] In fact, the legitimacy of this author, an experienced professional in the sector, to analyze the Algerian case and, in the case of the 1970s, to testify directly, appears little contestable. As a result, my understanding of the history, both oil and politics, of Algeria is strengthened. However, unlike its technical competence, the impartiality of the author raises questions in my opinion. For example, fairly sharp positions are observed regarding the supposed interests of foreign countries (France) or those of the stakeholders of the 1970s with which his views may have diverged; this must be taken into account when using this work. [...]
[...] Also, I may regret that this analysis does not return more on the effects of oil-related decisions on the population itself, how it could have seen things, the media treatment . often focusing on national and international political and economic actors. Logically, the author concludes that Algeria is now at a crossroads, between letting a new generation of the same caste control the sector, or seeing the Algerian people succeed in changing things so that oil can finally benefit the population. [...]
[...] Secret History of Algerian Oil - Hocine Malti (2010) Reading Guide - Secret History of Algerian Oil It is to try to explain a striking paradox, that of an Algeria whose everyone knows the richness of hydrocarbons in its subsoil, but which has yet ceased to stagnate politically and economically for half a century, that Hocine Malti publishes "Secret History of Algerian Oil" in 2010. By his expertise as an engineer and oil consultant, but above all his experience at Sonatrach, the national Algerian company of which he holds the position of vice-president from 1972 to 1975, he intends, by his testimony and analysis, to denounce the true reasons for the Algerian situation: unfair contracts since independence, lack of skills, but above all an endemic corruption that has become during the successive Algerian governments." The organization of this work is chronological, allowing to pinpoint the evolutions and constants of Algerian oil history. [...]
