The deadly attack on an Algerian natural gas complex will do little to discourage the drive for lucrative energy exploration in northern Africa, experts say, but the attack is forcing companies to increase security after largely ignoring risks of operation in the remote desert region, The Associated Press reports.
Spanish, Norwegian and British oil companies quickly evacuated workers from Algerian energy facilities after the well-coordinated hostage-taking by Islamic militants, which resulted in chaos during an Algerian raid, AP reports. While energy companies are reluctant to comment, experts say the financial bounty in the region is too high to scare off large firms, such as BP or Norway‘s Statoil.