The roadmap to end the dependence energy of the European Union of Russia goes through north africa. This is what Italian diplomacy believes more and more clearly. The first to implement this strategy was former Prime Minister Mario Draghi. But his successor is following the same path. It is what has made clear the own Giorgia Melonithat in the last days has traveled to Algeria and Libya to secure new supplies of gas.
The president’s last visit was precisely last weekend to tripoli. And, although on the table there was also a discussion about the migrant boats that go from this country to Italy, the economic objective of the displacement was basically one: to attend the signing of a new agreement between the Italian oil company ENI and its local counterpart NOC to boost shipments to Italy (currently flowing through a pipeline called Green Streambuilt 20 years ago).
The agreement is not minor. As reported by ENI and NOC, the two companies have committed to explore two new deposits offshore that they would begin to produce in 2026 and that it is estimated that they could reach up to 21.2 million cubic meters of gas Combined produced per day. To achieve this objective, Italy has planned an investment capital letter ones 8,000 million dollars, which ENI will allocate to this project in Libya. A country that is currently the fifth in Africa for its gas reserves after Nigeria, Algeria, Mozambique and Egypt, but which had recently reduced its exports due to the increase in domestic demand.
submarine pipeline
“The cooperation in the energy sphere between Italy and Libya is antigua“, stressed Meloni when speaking from Tripoli, who maintained strong ties to Rome after becoming independent in 1951.”ENI has been present here since 1959and has in fact contributed to an important part of the Libyan history of these years, to the economic development of Libya,” the far-right added in her speech.
Meloni was also last week in Algeria, a country with which Italy has intensified its relations in recent months as a result of the disagreements between Algiers and Madrid over the Spanish position on the conflict in Western Sahara. The transalpine politician came to sign an agreement that provides for the construction of a gas pipeline between the two countries to increase gas exports and also to send hydrogen, ammonia and even electricity to Italy.
This project is not negligible either. It would be a underwater conduit 284 kilometers long and with a maximum depth of 2,880 metres, which from the Algerian port of Koudiet Draouche reaches the Sardinian city of Olbia. From there, the idea is to connect it with another gas pipeline that must also be built and that would reach the town of Piombo, in Tuscany (center).
The Algerian ally
These movements confirm what some analysts had been saying for weeks; is that Rome aspires to become a gas source of the EU, benefiting from its advantageous geographical position. The President of Algeria himself, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, sees it that way. “It is an important project that makes Italy an energy distributor for the whole of Europe,” said the Algerian leader on the sidelines of the press conference in which the new agreement was announced.
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The truth is that Algeria has become in the last year the main seller of gas to Italy and a Rome’s key ally for the Italian strategy of decreasing dependence on Moscow. In fact, the transalpine country, which before the ukrainian war imported 40% of the gas it consumes from Russia, currently imports 40% the Argelia (previously 22%), while the amount from Moscow is now less than half of what it imported a year ago.
It is mainly due to the agreements signed by Draghi in 2022, to which Meloni now not only gives continuity, but also wants to make it her own. So much so that he has even christened his strategy plan Mattei (by Enrico Mattei, a historic director of ENI who died in obscure circumstances in 1953), a project that seeks to turn Italy into a bridge between the Maghreb and the EU. Time will tell if geopolitics proves him right.