Algeria’s Sonatrach is working on drafting a new strategy, called Project SH2030, which outlines the company’s priorities and objectives for the next decade, according to Sonatrach CEO Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour.

The CEO said Sonatrach has never had a clear strategy for reaching mid-term and long-term goals. He plans to shortly publish the plan, laying out the state-run company’s ambiitions for the next decade.

“We want to change the way we do business, and the theme for this period is leading the change,” Ould Kaddour said. “We need to change the way the company operates.”

His vision is to turn Sonatrach into an integrated energy company by 2030, with clear objectives and an implementation plan. The strategy, he added, will also examine ways to diversify the company’s business, including whether clean energy such as solar energy should be part of the plan.

“We want our people to be innovative in doing business, instead of relying on administrative and bureaucratic procedures,” the Algerian Press Agency quoted him as saying.

Ould Kaddour called upon the government to reform oil and gas industry laws to attract international investors. Amending existing oil and gas law will help boost production and offset decline amid the country’s falling energy revenues, he added. He also wants the government to update the existing legal framework to make the country more competitive.

“We are talking to the government in order to make the necessary changes of the law in order to make the oil and gas sector more attractive for investment. I understand that taxes and exploration legal framework need to be changed,” he said during a visit to Hassi Messaoud’s Rhourd El Baguel Field.

He mentioned that Eni and Total are negotiating with the Algerian government to take over large projects at several fields. The work includes optimization, petrochemicals and development of solar energy at oil and gas fields.

Calls to amend the hydrocarbon law intensified in the last few months as oil prices have impacted the country’s overall economy. Algeria depends heavily on hydrocarbons, which constitutes almost 95% of the country’s revenue. But any attempt to amend the law will be met with resistance from the country’s political old guard, wary of ending more nationalist policies.

Algeria’s energy legal framework and taxes have been seen by foreign oil and gas firms as a hurdle to more partnerships. But the law is only one barrier. Oil firms said bureaucracy and delayed projects are others. In 2013, Algeria amended its law offering incentives to foreign companies developing unconventional resources such as shale and linking taxes on partners of state energy firm Sonatrach to profit instead of turnover.

But that was not enough to entice companies to subsequent energy bidding rounds—investors saw little on offer and a lack of transparency in data on the fields. Since then Sonatrach has adopted a more flexible approach, dealing with companies on a bilateral basis and abandoning public bids.

Algeria is the third largest gas supplier to the EU after Russia and Norway, covering 55% of Spain’s gas energy needs in 2016, 16% of Italy’s and 15% of Portugal‘s. But stiff competition between gas-producing countries on the European market is creating more challenges for Algeria, which led the government to consider developing its petrochemical industry to monetize the country’s gas reserves.

While Ould Kaddour’s ambitions of drafting a long-term strategy are legitimate, the execution and implementation of the strategy could be difficult for a company that has seen six CEOs in less than seven years, with each new CEO changing the direction of the company.

Add to this challenges associated with political meddling, red tape and corruption, which led to arrest of former Sonatrach CEO Mohamed Meziane in 2010. Even the current CEO was convicted by an Algerian military court in November 2007 and sentenced to 30 months over “disclosing classified information” while he was president of Brown & Root-Condor, of which Sonatrach held 51%. However, according to reliable sources, no clear evidence was presented during his trial.

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