gas, central issue of Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Algeria?

In the heart of the Algerian desert, gas is the subject of all desires and negotiations. Europe now has its eyes turned towards Algeria, and its 2,400 billion m3. It is one of the largest fossil reserves in the world. The Algerians have the cards in hand, and hope to take advantage of this position of strength. “It’s a good thing, for the development of Algeria”, says a man. The country produces approximately 1,000 billion m3 of gas per year, and exports nearly half of it. Its first customers are Italy and Spain, via gas pipelines built several decades ago. It also exports in the form of liquid gas by ship, mainly to Turkey, but also to France. In 2019, France bought 3.6 billion m3, i.e. less than 5% of Algerian production.

To obtain more, heads of state have been flocking to Algiers (Algeria) for the past few months. Italy acted first, however, and took advantage of its good relations to sign a big contract. “Now that this additional gas is taken by our Italian friends and neighbours, it is not certain that in the short term Algeria will have the means, in terms of production, to supply more gas to the European Union”, analyzes Francis Perrin, director of research at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS). Algeria could produce twice as much, but would need additional, very costly infrastructure.