Some African countries have large gas reserves, including Algeria, which is the tenth largest gas producer in the world.
According to economic data, this Maghreb country ranks fourth among LNG exporters to Europe, and Germany is one of its largest markets.
American talks
Last Thursday, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visited Algeria, where she met Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and senior figures in the country.
After the meeting, Sherman described her talks with Tebboune as a “very fruitful meeting”, and also spoke about the importance of economic relations between Washington and Algeria.
“President Tebboune informed us of his plans to create more job opportunities and diversify the Algerian economy into strategic sectors, including agriculture, information and communications technology, and clean energy, these are areas in which American companies can work in close cooperation with Algeria,” she said.
It also revealed another visit of a US delegation to Algeria to discuss means of cooperation in the “field of wind energy, sewage treatment, and the oil sector.”
Wendy Sherman is the highest-ranking US official to visit Algeria under current US President Joe Biden.
Russian gas compensation is out of the question
Algerian economic analyst Dr. Alaoua Belkhabat said, “Algeria is bound by long and medium-term contracts with its European partners and is obligated to respect these contracts, and no one has the right to prevent Algeria from financing Europeans with gas under these agreements, and they are not new.”
Regarding the possibility of Algeria compensating for Russian oil, he adds: “Algeria does not have a great ability to increase its production of oil and gas, and it needs a long time to increase its production, and the idea of compensating for Russian gas is out of the question.”
*Italian endeavors
In early March, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune received Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio. The meeting was attended by Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab, and CEO of the Algerian oil giant, Taoufik Hakkar.
After the meeting, the Italian minister revealed the agreement between Algeria and Rome to increase Algerian gas supplies to Europe, despite a previous denial by the Algerian oil company Sonatrach for any steps to increase exports to Europe or at least to compensate for Russian gas flows.
In statements to the Italian state TV, “Rai”, Luigi Di Maio confirmed that his visit to Algeria was “with the aim of increasing gas supplies.”
He also revealed that Algeria “will support Italy in supplying it with gas, and our partnership will become stronger in the short, medium and long term.”
Algeria is linked with the European Union on medium and long-term contracts, after arduous negotiations that lasted about 4 years, especially with Rome and Madrid. It has also been linked, since 1967, to an agreement with Paris for the transport of natural gas shipments.
Challenges and obstacles
Dr. Mahamah Bouziane, an Algerian expert in energy affairs, says that gas contracts are commercial contracts between energy companies, not political agreements between governments or countries. his country, unless an official and announced commercial contract is announced between the national company Sonatrach and its counterpart in any European country.
He added to Sky News Arabia: “Most of the gas contracts in the world are long-term, while the spot markets are narrow and limited. For this reason, gas shipments cannot be transferred from one side to another as simply as some see, because the majority of supplies are governed by long periods of time.”
Bouziane asserts that “increasing gas production in any country is linked to the possibility of additional production capacities, but the reality of the gas industry today globally is under the influence of the investment deficit, which limits the possibility of raising production.”
He added, “There is also a deficit in the additional production capacities of the majority of gas producers, and the other deficit is in the capabilities of shipping liquefied gas globally. There is another deficit in the vision of the European gas consuming countries because they want additional supplies from the producers side without injecting investments that help in exploration, production, transportation and infrastructure.” pipe laying infrastructure.
The Algerian expert asserts, “All the efforts promoted and loudly talked about, have nothing to do with Algeria, as it will not engage unless the European Union countries announce their permanent need for Algerian gas.”
Algeria has two gas pipelines, one of which is called “Transmed”, which connects Algeria with Europe, with a length of 2485 km, and guarantees the supply of Tunisia, Italy and Slovenia with natural gas, and it is currently transporting about 60 million cubic meters per day of Algerian gas to Italy.
As for the latest, it is “Galsi” with a length of 860 km, and it is expected to start operation during the second half of this year, heading towards Italy, and guaranteeing an estimated capacity of 238 billion cubic feet annually.
Italy is one of the largest users of gas in Europe and imports more than 90 percent of its total gas needs, from Russia and Algeria.
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