Europe Wants to Find an Alternative to Russian Gas Imports in Algeria
Algerian state-owned Sonatrach will sign an agreement to develop a large hydrocarbon field with Chevron in the next few days, said Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab.
According to him, another document is being prepared for signing with ExxonMobil. Agreements with Western companies will concern the development of new hydrocarbon fields in Algeria, writes Bloomberg.
Currently, there is significant interest from Western companies in the country’s energy sector. Europe has been buying Algerian gas for over 50 years. It is curious that LNG, as a method of transporting methane, was invented specifically for importing Algerian gas to Italy. However, now the Old World needs to increase gas purchases from Algeria in order to partially replace Russian volumes with these supplies.
Italy, Spain and Germany have already signed deals to increase purchases from the North African country, which currently accounts for around 14% of the EU’s total imports of both pipeline gas and LNG. Algeria is currently stepping up exploration and has made eight major discoveries this year, with the aim of increasing production to 200 billion cubic metres of gas per year from the current 137 billion.
