(3 minutes read)
Algeria has become a long-term strategic partner of the European Union(EU), as the bloc turns to Africa’s biggest gas exporter to fill a gap left by the disruption of Russian supplies.
EU’s energy commissioner Kadri Simson is among top European officials visiting Algeria in search of more natural gas since Russia cut gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation against Western sanctions after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Algeria has helped Europe diversify its energy supplies by pumping more gas to Italy, which in July signed a deal to import billions more cubic meters via an undersea pipeline from the North African coast. Europe’s hunt for gas has become ever more urgent as winter approaches, but experts have cast doubt over Algeria’s ability to boost output in the short term.
However, Algerian Prime Minister Aimene Benabderrahmane said state hydrocarbons firm Sonatrach had put in place an accelerated programme to bump up output. Energy Minister Mohamed Arab, speaking at an energy summit in the capital Algiers attended by Simson, said his country was a trusted supplier that always honours its contractual obligations.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/algeria-and-france-in-talk-to-further-economic-cooperation/
https://trendsnafrica.com/algeria-set-to-popularise-english-french-language-discounted/
https://trendsnafrica.com/italian-energy-giant-eni-acquires-bps-business-in-algeria/
Algeria examined the possibility of laying high-voltage cables under the Mediterranean to export electricity to Europe. The country hopes to produce as much as 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2035. Simson said she wanted the EU to help Algeria reduce its methane emissions and boost its electricity output from renewables. Algeria has one of the highest solar-based energy potentials in the world.
