The Algerian Council of Ministers approved Oct. 13, during a meeting chaired by interim President Abdelkader Bensalah, a controversial bill that revises the regulations and the role of the state in the country’s strategic hydrocarbons sector. As the session was taking place, hundreds of Algerians gathered in front of parliament to protest against the proposed changes, marking one of the latest disputes between the ruling authorities and Algeria’s popular protest movement.

The importance of the energy sector in Algeria — a key sector of its economy and a source of national pride — makes its regulation a delicate move, especially given that the current president, government and parliament, all involved in drafting the law, are seen as illegitimate by many Algerians, who have been asking for their departure for months.

The Algerian authorities have justified the urgency of the bill, arguing that the country is running out of time. National gas consumption had almost doubled from 2002 to 2017, and a deficit in the local market is expected by 2030. Therefore, immediate action would be a must given that about a decade is needed to discover, develop and exploit a field, Toufik Hakkar, vice president of the national state-owned oil company Sonatrach, said in an interview with Le Soir d’Algerie on Oct. 20.

The adoption of the bill, however, has been heavily criticized owing to Algeria’s political stalemate. “The government under [former] President [Abdelaziz] Boutefika was already working on this law … which was supposed to be approved during the first half of 2019. But the political situation temporarily put it on hold before being suddenly recovered by the [Noureddine] Bedoui government,” Said Beghoul, an independent consultant on oil and gas projects, told Al-Monitor.