7 Conditions To Hike Algerian Gas Supplies To Europe

The energy expert, Abderahmane Mebtool, believes that raising Algerian gas supplies to the European continent, and reaching 80 billion cubic meters within 5 years, is linked to the provision of 7 conditions, unrelated to the Russian-Ukrainian war, but rather related to local production capabilities in Algeria.
In a statement to “Echorouk”, Mebtoul said that there are 7 conditions that must be met in order for Algeria to be able to hike its gas production within 5 years to equal 22 to 23 percent of the European continent’s supply instead of the 11 percent revealed by Sonatrach, i.e. 80 billion Cubic meters.
Mebtool believes that the first of these conditions is to achieve energy efficiency, reliability and sustainability through the exploitation of renewable energies, as well as reviewing the fuel subsidy in Algeria, and it is related to fuel from gasoline and diesel in the first place, a thorny and sensitive file that costs the Algerian treasury billions of losses and drains a significant amount of hydrocarbon production in Algeria. which imposes the lifting of subsidies for those who do not deserve it, stressing that several studies have been conducted in this field and presented even before Parliament, but no decision has been taken to lift the subsidy for those who do not deserve it until now, despite all the confusion that was raised about the file, as he put it.
According to Mebtoul, the third condition is to raise the investments that the Sonatrach Group announced to have reached $40 billion, including $8 billion during 2022, stressing that the value of investments must rise and investment projects must materialize and see the light and not remain just ink on paper.
Mebtoul spoke as a fourth condition about completing the release of all the implementation texts of the Hydrocarbons Law issued in 2019, wondering why these texts were disrupted and part of them remained locked up in the Ministry of Energy.
Mebtoul explained that the fifth condition for raising Algeria’s production and export of gas to the European continent lies in accelerating the exploitation of renewable energy, as its projects in Algeria are still mere ink on paper despite all the absolute tenders and announced projects that have not seen the light yet.
This increases the consumption of gas extracted from Algerian wells, whose volume exceeds 100 billion cubic meters annually, as the volume of gas consumption locally equaled 47 billion cubic meters last year, which imposes the need to rationalize energy consumption locally, which if it continues at the same pace will lead in 2030 to the consumption of everything as it is extracted from wells internally.
As a sixth condition, the energy expert highlighted the need to open the discussions in the file of shale gas after a freeze that lasted more than 7 years, of which Algeria possesses one of the most important reserves in the world, regardless of whether or not it has officially embarking on its exploitation.
Abderahmane Mebtool believes that the seventh condition is to settle the problem in the “Nigal” pipeline project between Europe, Algeria and Nigeria, in order to be able to raise the supply of gas to the European continent, in addition to reviving the gas pipeline project between Algeria and Italy under the name “Galsi”, which was frozen in 2012 from the Italians side at the time, due to the project’s futility, noting that the Russian-Ukrainian war today, and the European desire to be free from Russian gas, may reopen the file of the project, which cost 2.5 billion dollars at the time, but its cost today may reach 5 billion dollars, according to the spokesman.
Mebtool concluded that Europe today is paying the price for its preference for other gas suppliers, instead of Algeria during the past years.