Brics 'snub' scuppers L&T bid for project in Algeria

Algeria was keen to join the grouping; its president had pledged 1.5 bn for the Brics Bank

- Rituraj Baruah, Shashank Mattoo

A failed bid by Algeria to join the Brics grouping has impacted a $1.5 billion oil and gas project between the country's state-run Sonatrach and Indian conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Ltd, three people aware of the development said.

Despite the engineering multinational in a favourable position to bag the contract, the award did not go through and the tender was cancelled.

In response to a mailed query, Subramanian Sarma, whole-time director and senior executive vice president for energy at L&T, confirmed the cancellation of the tender by Sonatrach and said that the project was only at the evaluation stage, even while emphasising that L&T had completed another project for the company recently, and was in the race for several other upcoming projects