Page 4 - AfrOil Week 29 2022

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

Draghi (L) and Tebboune (R) met in Algiers (Photo: Algerian Presidential Press Service)
Italy arranges to import

more gas from Algeria

The North African state has now surpassed Russia as the largest supplier of gas
to the Italian market, but Europe is still a long way away from replacing Gazprom

ITALY’S Prime Minister Mario Draghi paid a the main partner in his unity government, the
visit to Algeria on July 18 with the aim of finalis- populist 5-Star Movement, boycotted a confi-
WHAT: ing an agreement on additional natural gas sup- dence vote on an energy costs relief bill. Nev-
Italy has formalised plies from the North African country. He was ertheless, he did meet with Algerian President
a deal that will boost certainly eager to do so, as Russian supplies to Abdelmadjid Tebboune and finalised a number
Algerian gas imports to Europe have become uncertain. of joint agreements designed to boost co-opera-
25 bcm this year. Before the trip, Draghi had good reasons to tion between the two countries.
hope for a deal with Algiers. As Reuters reported
WHY: on July 16, Algeria’s national oil company Italian-Algerian deals
European concerns about (NOC) Sonatrach has said it is ready to provide According to press reports, the two heads of
energy supplies are Italy with an additional 4bn cubic metres of gas state signed no less than 15 agreements and
mounting ahead of the
heating season. in 2022, in addition to the 21 bcm agreed ear- memoranda of understanding (MoUs).
lier by both countries. Those additional supplies One of the agreements formalised plans for
WHAT NEXT: were expected to start being delivered to Italian the delivery of the additional 4 bcm of gas in
The EU has yet to secure customers – including Eni, which is majori- 2022, while another extended the term of a pro-
adequate replacements ty-owned by entities linked to the Italian gov- duction-sharing contract (PSC) covering two
for gas from Russia, its ernment – this week. oil-bearing blocks in the Berkine basin. (Eni is a
single largest supplier. Draghi had originally planned to visit Alge- party to the PSC, while France’s TotalEnergies is
ria for two days, but he cut the visit short after serving as operator of the project.)

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 29 20•July•2022