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ALGIERS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - BP has written to Algeria to
express its interest in investing in its oil sector and has not
made any request to sell its shares in the In Amenas gas plant,
state news agency APS quoted Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab as
saying on Wednesday.
Reuters last week reported three industry sources as saying
that BP Plc was seeking buyers for its stake in the gas
plant, deep in the Sahara desert, after recent talks on a sale
to Russian oil giant Rosneft failed.
"BP did not send any request to sell its shares in
Tiguentourine's plant in Amenas," APS reported Arkab as saying
in the first official comment on the report in Algeria.
The sources said BP hopes to raise around $2 billion from
the sale of its 45.89% stake in In Amenas, the target of a
deadly attack by Islamist militants in 2013. The sale is part of
a $15 billion disposal programme BP is targeting by the middle
of 2021, two of the sources said.
Algeria relies on energy export revenue for a large chunk of
its state budget and foreign currency earnings, but production
and sales have been falling for several years.
In December it passed a law aimed at making it easier for
international energy companies to invest in the hydrocarbons
industry in the hopes of boosting output, though it kept a bar
on majority foreign ownership of projects in the sector.
(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi
writing by Angus McDowall
editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)