Gas continues to flow to Europe

Political risk: Demonstrators gather near the Monument to the Republic during a protest against Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika seeking a fifth term in a presidential election set for April 18, in Paris. — Reuters

CAIRO: Arab Spring-style protests have rocked Europe’s third-biggest natural gas supplier. Thousands of young Algerians have taken to the streets, fed up with an octogenarian president who’s been in power for 20 years and a weak economy that doesn’t generate enough jobs.

While the rare public display of dissatisfaction has sparked a political crisis in the authoritarian state, the country’s energy exports haven’t been disrupted.