A share of 60% in the project is owned by a Russian joint enterprise Rosneft-Stroytransgaz, 50% of which belongs to Rosneft, and 40% is owned by the Algerian state-owned Sonatrach.
According to the newspaper, Rosneft is likely to make efforts to sell its stake to the Algerian partner Sonatrach. The Russian company is not interested in just withdrawing from the project, because, in that case, it will lead to multi-million writing-off and forfeit penalty. Gazprom, a Russian gas giant, has already denied to buy the asset.
As a reference, consortium of Rosneft and Stroytansgaz won a tender for the development of the Algerian block as early as 2001. It became the company’s first foreign project outside the former USSR.