Algeria’s gas exports hit record high in 2022

ALGIERS, Algeria

Algeria’s gas exports hit a record high of 56 billion cubic meters in 2022, a government official said.

Miloud Medjelled, the director general of foresight at the Energy Ministry, told the state radio on Thursday that gas exports are likely to increase in the coming year.

Medjelled pointed out that authorities are seeking to rationalize the consumption of gas destined for electricity production, in an attempt to take advantage of the high global gas prices.

On Tuesday, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune called on his country's national hydrocarbons company, Sonatrach, to double its gas production to reach 100 billion cubic meters of exports annually in 2023.

“The country produces 102 billion cubic meters of gas annually, half of which is consumed by the local market. I hope that in 2023, Sonatrach, will reach the export of 100 billion cubic meters."

The total Algerian production amounts to 130 billion cubic meters of gas annually, according to Sonatrach data, of which more than 50 billion is exported.

The global demand for natural gas is witnessing rapid growth during the current year, especially by the EU, which is looking for alternatives to Russian energy sources.

In the past months, Sonatrach signed contracts to supply additional quantities of gas to Italy, amounting to 9 billion cubic meters annually, in addition to supplying 300 million cubic meters of gas to Slovenia for the first time since 2012.

Algeria supplies gas to Europe through two pipelines – the first Transmed-Enrico Mattei, reaching Italy across the Mediterranean, and the second Medgaz, passing directly from the Algerian northwestern coast to Almeria in southern Spain.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report