French multinational utility company ENGIE is pursuing a deal with Algeria whereby the North African country is expected to increase natural gas exports to France. When concluded, the deal will see Algeria increase exports by as much as 50%, bringing much-needed energy security to France while increasing revenue generation for Algeria.
The deal follows French President H.E. Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Algeria earlier this month, where he met with H.E. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, President of Algeria, during which the parties discussed energy trade and vowed “to build a new pact.”
While details for the gas agreement between Algeria and France are yet to be unpacked, a spokesperson for ENGIE confirmed that talks are ongoing.
For France, the deal will be critical as the country enters winter and demand gradually increases. Just this week, Russian multinational energy corporation, Gazprom, announced that it will start to reduce gas deliveries to ENGIE due to contract disputes. As such, increasing imports from Algeria will help meet demand while reducing the dependency on Russian resources.
However, France is not the only nation increasing Algerian imports. In April 2022, Italian energy major Eni signed a deal with Algeria’s national oil company Sonatrach for an increase in gas supply to Italy in 2022 and beyond. The agreement paves the way for Eni to utilize Sonatrach’s TransMed/Enrico Mattei pipeline to increase gas supply by up to nine billion cubic meters per annum by 2023-24.
Currently, Algeria represents Europe’s third largest gas supplier after Russia and Norway, and yet, with the Russia-Ukraine conflict motivating European countries to pursue alternative gas supplies, many countries across the bloc are looking at increasing Algerian imports even further.
