Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced yesterday on Monday, July 18, the signing of an agreement of four billion dollars to supply Italy with very large quantities of natural gas.
“An important agreement will be signed with the ‘Western’, ‘Eni’ and ‘Total’ companies, in the amount of $ 4 billion, which will feed Italy with very large quantities of natural gas,” said President Tebboune in a press statement after the signing of numerous bilateral cooperation agreements, with the president of the Italian Council, Mario Draghi.
Since the beginning of the year, Algeria has provided Italy 13.9 billion m3, exceeding 113 % the volumes initially planned. It plans to deliver it a total of an additional 6 billion m3 by the end of 2022, according to the official Algerian agency APS.
Eni, present in Algeria since 1981, manages with the Algerian giant of hydrocarbons Sonatrach the transmed gas pipeline which links the country to Italy, via Tunisia. It can transport up to 32 billion m3 of natural gas per year. Hence the interest of Tunisia, which is paid either in quantities of natural gas or in currencies, depending on the volume of gas transported to Italy.
Indeed, the transmed gas pipeline which extends from Hassi R’Mel (Algeria) to Bologna (Italy) via El Haouaria, transports Algerian gas and allows Tunisia to receive a “right of way”, which allows it to benefit from a 6% of the natural gas that Algeria sells to Italy.