On 26 May, Algerian energy minister Mohamed Arkab announced that Algeria will block Total’s operation to buy the Algerian assets of the American Anadarko. The statement came after that another American oil company, Occidental Petroleum, started negotiations with the aim of taking over Anadarko, with the future intention to sell all the Anadarko’s assets in Africa to the French oil company Total (an operation estimated to $8.8 billion).  Anadarko’s activity in Algeria represents 260.000 barrels of oil per day, about 25% of the country’s oil production. The Algerian energy minister declared that they “have good relations with Anadarko and we [they] will do the utmost to preserve Algeria’s interests, including using our [their] pre-emption right to block the sale”. Anadarko and Total did not comment on the minister’s statement.