On a visit to Algeria last week, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson has hailed a “long-term strategic partnership” with the country.
Euractiv notes that this is clearly linked with the EU “turning to Africa’s biggest gas exporter to fill a gap left by Russian supplies.”
Simson further stated:
“As the relationship with Russia, so far EU’s biggest gas supplier, is irreversibly broken, we are turning to the EU’s reliable suppliers to fill in the gap.
In this respect we are offering Algeria a long-term strategic partnership.”
A number of European officials have already visited Algeria for the same purpose. Algeria has increased gas flows to Italy, which agreed a new deal for gas to be transferred via a pipeline.
🇪🇺🇩🇿 #EU offers #Algeria "long-term partnership" calling Algiers a "trusted supplier"
▪️ Likely: Efforts to develop undersea electric cables from DZ to EU and push for solar power (Desertec 2.0)
▪️ Unlikely: Efforts to nearshore manufacturing a la #Morocco model#Maghreb pic.twitter.com/5dGwlExGWE
— Prof. Michael Tanchum (@michaeltanchum) October 12, 2022
Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab commented his country was “a trusted supplier” that always honours its contractual obligations.” He also mentioned that his government was investigating the options for high-voltage cables under the Mediterranean to export electricity to Europe.
He further mentioned:
“Algeria has one of the highest solar based energy potential in the world. (…) The EU is ready to help Algeria unlock this potential.”
Picture: EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson (copyright: Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, 2017, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons )