Algeria sees natural gas exports to Italy jump 20% this year

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(Bloomberg) – Algeria expects its natural gas exports to Italy to rise by a fifth this year as European nations strive to reduce their dependence on Russian supplies.

Gas shipments to Italy from the North African country will total around 25.2 billion cubic meters in 2022, Toufik Hakkar, chief executive of state-owned energy company Sonatrach, said in an interview. Italy received 20.9 billion cubic meters from Algeria last year, according to data from the Italian gas network.

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Countries are racing to find alternative energy suppliers like Algeria to compensate for the loss of supply from Russia, which cut off gas flows to Europe in reaction to the continent’s support for Ukraine. For its part, Italy reached an agreement with Algeria in April to increase imports via the Trans-Med gas pipeline, which was followed by the visit of ex-president Mario Draghi in July with the aim of get more gas.

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« The supply outlook for the Italian market but also for markets connected to Italy is promising, » Hakkar said, adding that additional volumes are expected to be contracted « over the coming weeks. »

The volume of gas pumped to Italy under long-term contracts will be around 21.6 billion cubic meters this year, while the volume sold under spot transactions is expected to total 3.6 billion cubic meters. cubic meters, he said.

« Sonatrach reassures its Italian customers on its ability to supply the contractual volumes over the entire duration of the contract, » Hakkar said.

Algeria also has two gas pipeline links with Spain. However, data from the Spanish network shows that imports of Algerian gas fell by 40% in the first half compared to the previous year after the shutdown of the Maghreb-Europe link, which crosses Morocco, in November 2021 in a rupture between Algiers and Rabat on the status of Western Sahara.

Spain has received 6.9 billion cubic meters of gas so far this year, Hakkar said.