As the largest company in Africa and one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, Algerian government-owned Sonatrach is a vast and complex entity. Responsible for the location, extraction, production, transportation and marketing of all hydrocarbon products located throughout Algeria, the major challenges inherent to the oil market mean that their legal team has been active in protecting the company over recent months.

The team recently achieved a major win for the company, when in October 2016 it managed to successfully defend a case brought to them via the international court of arbitration by energy companies Total and Repsol. These rival oil companies objected to Sonatrach’s application of an exceptional profits tax, but were unsuccessful after the court ruled that the tax was legitimate.

This has helped safeguard valuable revenues at a time when weak oil prices have had a negative effect on the company, and is an example of the legal team having a major appreciable effect on the bottom line of the business.