The wilaya of Oran is an industrial centre with several industrial zones. The petrochemical industry is its largest sector.
Industry
The wilaya of Oran is an industrial centre with several industrial zones. The petrochemical industry is its largest sector.
Gas and steel
The GL4Z plant at Arzew, built in 1964, was the world's first natural gas liquefaction complex, which turns gas into a liquid for shipping. Algeria became the first country to export liquefied gas.
Liquefied natural gas and steel are the main industries of Bethioua. In June 2026 a decree assigned about 152 ha of farmland in Aïn El Bia to a new steel complex near the port of Arzew.
Salt and fishing
Salt from the salt flats near Arzew was long one of the port's exports.
For a long time Mers El Kébir was the fishing centre at the western end of the bay. In the colonial period many of its fishermen came from the island of Procida, near Naples.
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