“Announcements will be made soon” on a possible increase in deliveries of Algerian gas to France, government spokesman Olivier Véran said on Sunday, the day after Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Algeria. According to Europe 1, negotiations are underway between Engie, whose president Catherine MacGregor was part of the official delegation, and Algerian officials, to bring this increase to 50% of current volumes.
“I cannot confirm it,” Olivier Véran said on BFMTV, arguing that he “did not have to comment on what falls under French diplomacy and Algerian diplomacy”. But “announcements will be made soon”, he added, stressing that there had been “rapprochement within the framework of the displacement” of Emmanuel Macron, from Thursday evening to Saturday afternoon.
Algeria, the leading African exporter to Europe
During his trip, the French president had stressed that France “depends little on gas in its energy mix, about 20%, and in this whole, Algeria represents 8 to 9%”. “We are not in a dynamic where Algerian gas could change the situation”, he also argued, observing that France had already “secured its volumes” for the winter, with stocks constituted at 90%.
Algeria recently concluded agreements with Italy to increase its deliveries by the end of the year via the Transmed gas pipeline, of which it became the first supplier ahead of Russia, after the invasion of Ukraine. Since the beginning of 2022, Algeria has supplied Italy with 13.9 billion m3, exceeding the previously scheduled volumes by 113%. Algeria is Africa’s leading gas exporter and supplies around 11% of the gas consumed in Europe.