Sonatrach acquires overseas to resolve a domestic issue

Sonatrach's first downstream overseas acquisition is the planned purchase of ExxonMobil's Augusta refinery in Sicily, Italy, plus associated terminals and pipelines. Rising costs of oil product imports to meet Algerian demand and slow progress on domestic refinery investments has prompted the deal. This will allow Sontrach to process Saharan Blend crude and residual fuel in the Italian refinery and send the resulting production back to Algeria. This insight answers the following key questions and more: Why the Augusta refinery and what is ExxonMobil's rationale for selling? What is the estimated cost of buying the asset for Sonatrach? Is there any impact on ExxonMobil's Italian retail network from divesting the asset?