2024-02-12 17:16:32
ALGIERS – Algeria’s growing cooperation with African hydrocarbon-producing countries, such as Nigeria, strengthens its potential as a “regional energy hub”, indicated the Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab in an interview with the magazine “El Djeich”, highlighting Algeria’s “remarkable resilience” in an unstable global gas market, by establishing itself as a “safe and trustworthy gas supplier”.
“On a geopolitical level, Algeria’s location in North Africa makes it a strategic local supplier for Europe. Its growing cooperation with African producing countries such as Nigeria for the Trans-Saharian Gas-Pipeline (TSGP) project, strengthens its potential as a regional energy hub,” said Mr. Arkab.
“We have also managed to gain new customers in Central and Eastern Europe,” he maintained, adding that Algeria’s position as a constructive actor within intergovernmental organizations, such as the Forum of gas exporting countries (GECF or OPEC) “strengthens our credibility with our international partners on energy issues. Which reinforces our status as an ‘energy pillar in the Mediterranean'”.
In this regard, he recalled the significant energy investments made by Algeria in recent years and which have “strengthened the national gas potential and offer flexible export capacities that can respond nimbly to fluctuations in demand.”
He argued, in this sense, that the Sonatrach group was seeking to strengthen its production capacities by investing abroad within the framework of partnership contracts in the field of research and production of hydrocarbons in neighboring countries, such as Libya, Mali and Niger, with a total investment of $442 million between 2024 and 2028.
On the environmental level, Algeria is working, he continued, to reduce the carbon footprint of its gas sector, by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, this commitment allows it to promote gas natural as a transition energy and to maintain its competitiveness.
In addition, “its short delivery times make it an interesting source of LNG, particularly for Mediterranean countries,” argued Mr. Arkab.
“The proven reserves, combined with recent gas discoveries, offer promising prospects, reassuring investors and importers regarding long-term reliability. By combining natural advantages and long-term strategy, Algeria is thus sustainably consolidating its status as a ‘ reference gas partner'”, further underlined the minister.
Referring to the GECF summit, the minister affirmed that this important global event “will chart the way forward for a sustainable, secure and prosperous energy future for member states”, in order to push the gas industry to contribute to ensuring energy security. and to support and accompany the energy transition in the long term.
It will also allow heads of state and government to discuss global challenges in the field of gas, with a presentation of a study on developments in gas markets, in light of geopolitical and structural changes in the gas industry. , particularly linked to the elimination of carbon and methane.
The summit will propose high-level strategic orientations for the forum, adopting the Algiers Declaration which “guarantees the commitment of Member States to cooperate among themselves to face global challenges and geopolitical changes and guarantee the common interests of Member States in the field of the gas industry”, he explained.
A “national energy model” for a global prospective vision
Mr. Arkab did not fail, moreover, to welcome the support of the Ministry of National Defense (MDN) in securing the country’s energy and mining installations, particularly at sensitive sites, as well as in the protection and support for projects in the sector and its executives.
“We are convinced that thanks to the efforts of the ANP units, energy installations in our country are comprehensively secured, allowing the realization of all forms of cooperation and investments on the ground.”
The minister, on the other hand, argued that the energy and mining sector was currently working, in coordination with all the sectors concerned, in particular large energy consumers, to develop a “national energy model ” which will make it possible to prepare a “global prospective vision” of the different possible future scenarios, including those linked to the energy transition.
The results of this energy model will make it possible to develop a medium and long-term roadmap, the objectives of which are to ensure energy security, determine the most appropriate approach for an energy transition, taking into account all capacities natural and infrastructure, in addition to defining procedures for energy efficiency, including new innovative solutions, “which would contribute to the rationalization and reduction of the strong growth in national energy demand”, he said. he detailed.
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