Repsol eager to tap north Africa's well of business 'stability'

Executives in the perennially risky oil and gas business have a different concept of "stability" from anyone else, and Antonio Brufau, executive chairman of the energy group Repsol YPF, is no exception.

For Mr Brufau, whose Spanish company has invested heavily in north Africa, the Libya of the quixotic Col Muammer Gaddafi is "a stable country" and "historically the best country for Repsol".

Algeria, once torn by Islamist violence and now in the authoritarian grip of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, president, is "a very stable country".