The European Commissioner for Energy visits the Maghreb country to deepen the energy relationship
At the gates of winter, the European Union (EU) seeks to strengthen algerian gas to curb dependency on Russia. The European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, and her Algerian counterpart, Mohamed Arkab, agreed on Monday to deepen the energy relationship between the two territories and have opened the door to increasing the gas available for export to Europe. “I am in Algeria to take energy cooperation between the EU and Algeria to a higher level,” defended the president during the High-Level Meeting on Energy between the EU and Algeria held in the capital of the Maghreb country.
“Both countries want to benefit from an increase in Algerian gas potentially available for export to Europe,” Simson said. He has explained that this “increase” could be carried out through European companies operating in the country. In addition, he has defended that “it is a cooperation in which both territories win, Algeria has always been a reliable gas supplier and Europe is its main market”.
During the meeting, the EU has also promised to “mobilize considerable financing” to invest in renewable energies. Simson has argued that Algeria “has the potential to be a global leader as a producer of renewable energy.”
During his visit to Algiers, Simson also met with the different European companies that operate locally in Algeria, including the Spanish naturgy. The European Commissioner for Energy will close her visit on Tuesday after delivering the opening speech of the Algeria-EU Energy Business Forum.
Increased production
This same Monday, Sonatrach, the Algerian state company responsible for the exploitation of gas and oil in this Maghreb country, announced that it will increase its production. These are two deposits in the south of the country that it operates jointly with the Italian company ENI.
As reported, these deposits will reach two million cubic meters per day by the end of the year, double what is currently extracted. In addition, he added that this increase will serve to “boost Algerian gas exports destined for the European market,” according to the company’s statement.
The energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine has caused Europe to look for new markets to stop buying gas from Russia. Precisely, the French Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, was also in Algiers on Monday to attend the Franco-Algerian Business Forum with the aim of strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries.
The Spain-Algeria crisis
Related news
Algeria has historically been the most important supplier of gas to Spain, although this last year USA has overcome it. At the end of 2021, Algeria cut off the gas supply through one of the two gas pipelines that connected both countries. Specifically, he closed the pipeline that passed through Morocco before crossing the strait, given his anger with Rabat. Following this decision, Algeria undertook to continue supplying gas to Spain through the gas pipeline, which continues to operate, and through liquefied gas.
For a year now, Madrid and Algiers have also been going through a delicate stage marked by the suspension, by Algeria, of the friendship treaty between the two countries last June. A movement by the North African authorities that showed their discomfort at the change in Spain’s position on Western Sahara. Beyond the diplomatic crisis, the gas has continued to circulate. In addition, last week, the Spanish Naturgy signed an agreement with Sonotrach to review the price of its supply contracts and they are negotiating to set the conditions for next year.