Giorgia Meloni travels to Algeria and explains the government’s future gas plans. Goal confirmed: to completely eliminate imports from Russia. It is no coincidence that Meloni’s first official visit in 2023 was to Algeria, where he signed new bilateral agreements with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, following those closed by Mario Draghi in May 2022. Algeria has already become the first country to import gas from Italy, replacing Russia, but the quantities are not yet what has been promised. Eni and the government want to expand the portfolio of natural gas suppliers to reduce the risk of dependency, but new promises are already downward revisions to those made in 2022. Does the infamous “Mattei Plan” Meloni repeatedly mention starts from Algeria? Of course, the number of countries where Italy will buy gas will increase as early as 2023.
Meloni in Algeria: more gas in Italy in theory
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni went to Algeria for the first official visit of 2023. In Algeria, Meloni was welcomed by Algerian President Tebboune, with whom he made many bilateral agreements. On the sidelines of the meeting, Meloni said, “We want to try new areas of this cooperation and strengthen it in the fields of energy, politics and culture.”
Meloni described Algeria as “a reliable partner of absolute strategic importance”. The meeting coincided with the anniversary of the signing of the friendship and good neighborly agreement signed in Algeria 20 years ago, in 2003. Mario Draghi had already traveled to Algeria last year to discuss and sign other agreements, particularly in the gas sector.
Sonatrach, the state-owned company that manages Algeria’s fossil resources, has agreed with Eni to increase gas supplies to Italy via the Algerian pipeline. Transmed – Enrico Mattei, The basis of the process is the volumes that bring Algerian gas to the entry point of the national grid in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily: 4 billion cubic meters immediately in 2022 and an additional 6 billion cubic meters from 2023-2024. Liberation from Russian gas. There have been increases, but not at the promised levels.
Now, the two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen the energy interconnection network to “increase energy exports from Algeria to Italy through joint work on increasing the existing gas carrying capacity, transporting hydrogen, laying the underwater electric cable and increasing the capacity to produce liquefied gas”.
How much gas in practice from Algeria
However, previous promises to the Draghi government were curtailed, first by data, then by the words of Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi: “We annually update the agreements on quantities deemed appropriate: more than 3 billion cubic meters were given, and 3 billion more in 2023, and then more, ”said Descalzi.
In fact, according to Snam data processed by Today, In 2022, Italy imported 23.5 billion cubic meters of gas from Ageria, which accounts for 34.3 percent of the total supply. An increase of about 2.4 billion cubic meters – 11 percent more than in 2021 – but below the 4 billion announced in May 2022 after the Draghi government agreements and below the 3 that Descalzi mentioned. Also in the future, Algeria’s contributions were revised downwards, even reduced from the aforementioned 6 billion to the 3 billion mentioned by Eni’s CEO.
The Mattei Plan: What we know so far
Giorgia Meloni spoke frequently in her inaugural address and several times in the following months about a government’s “Mattei Plan” for the Mediterranean. Not much is known about this plan, with no further details given, except that Italy will take a “non-gathering but collaborative stance” against Mediterranean countries such as Algeria or Libya to demonstrate its influence, particularly in the energy field. The spirit of Enri’s founder, Enrico Mattei.
“I was delighted to visit the garden dedicated to Enrico Mattei in a country that is considered a national hero,” said Meloni, following his visit to Algeria. In Europe, we want to make Italy the gateway and therefore the main hub for energy distribution”.
The Prime Minister believes that “a greater presence in Africa is in the geopolitical interest of all of Europe, and also to stop the presence of Russia and China, which has increased significantly with obvious destabilizing elements”. According to Meloni, Italy is an important part”. Referring to the Mattei Plan, “We are focusing a lot on the Mediterranean front at this initial stage, so North Africa becomes an absolute priority and Algeria is the most strategic, long-lasting partner in this regard. We will be making further trips to other countries and to countries in North Africa in the next few weeks,” said Meloni. At the moment, that’s all that is known about the Mattei Plan.
Who will Italy buy gas from in the next few years?
Following the agreements signed by the Draghi government starting from Algeria in 2022, Italy strengthened its gas import portfolio to become independent from Russia. In fact, supplies from Russia have dropped to their lowest level since 1990, and the exceptionally mild winter temperatures allowed for a “quiet” transition at a time when there was little supply on the market.
But Algeria is not alone in the future of Italy’s gas supply. The African country has now become Italy’s largest gas supplier, but work is underway to increase gas imports from Angola, Cyprus, Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, Libya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Qatar and the Republic of Congo as well, as Eni reports.
In addition, there is LNG, liquefied natural gas: Eni’s plans will expand LNG volumes with the commissioning of two new regasification terminals in Piombino and Ravenna in 2023, with increasing quantities from Egypt, Qatar and the Republic of Congo. , Nigeria and Angola. The declared goal: to eliminate Russian gas by 2024.
Source: Today IT
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
