“Faced with the great energy crisis that Europe is going through in particular, Algeria might become a leader in production, certainly African but probably worldwide. Italy is inevitably the gateway to this energy and supply to Europe“, says the head of government of the third economic power of the European Union in front of an Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune all smiles. Italy, like other European countries, is trying to limit its dependence on Russian gas.
Italy imports 95% of its gas and 43% of this gas comes from Russia. To reduce this dependence, Rome is increasingly turning to Algeria, historically its second largest supplier, around 11%. Eni, the main Italian hydrocarbon company has had a strong presence in Algeria since 1981. It manages, with the Algerian hydrocarbon giant Sonatrach, the TransMed gas pipeline which links the country to Italy, via Tunisia. Italy, Algeria’s leading foreign customer, receives 35% of the country’s gas exports through Transmed.
Mario Draghi, then still President of the Italian Council, had already concluded a series of agreements with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in July 2022. Among these agreements was a large four billion dollar oil and gas production sharing contract between Algeria and companies in the energy sector, including the Italian giant Eni. Total is also one of the foreign companies in charge of investing once more in the Algerian hydrocarbon sector in this agreement.
An Algerian gas prized by Italy, France, Germany
Emmanuel Macron visited Algeria on August 24, 25 and 26. Dominique Borne, the head of government was also in Algiers on October 10, 2022. “The gas issue was not officially at the center of the discussions but the boss of Engie was present during the visit of the head of government “, explains Camille Sari, Algerian economist. France imports from Algeria just over 11% of its gas.
The regime has become popular in the eyes of Europeans. Italy has never really criticized human rights abuses in Algeria. Now France is following in its footsteps. Camille Sari, Algerian economist
Algerian gas is also prized by Germany, the leading economic power in the euro zone and which has largely built its energy model on the purchase of cheap Russian gas. The German Minister of the Economy, Robert Habeck, before the German industrialists thus pleaded for the installation of a station for the liquefaction of natural gas. And Germany intends to import Algerian gas in this direction from 2024.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is campaigning for the construction of a gas pipeline carrying Algerian gas which would leave Spain and Portugal and go to France, Germany and central Europe. It would transport eight billion cubic meters per year once morest 50 billion for the two main Russian gas pipelines. The project is however almost stillborn following the bad relations between Algeria and Spain, considered too close to the positions of Morocco by Algiers.
With the Ukrainian crisis, France needs Algerian oil, Algerian gas, so we can clearly see the limits of possible action.Patrick Beaudoin, President of the League for Human Rights
“The regime has in any case become acceptable in the eyes of Europeans. Italy has never really criticized human rights violations in Algeria. Now France is following in its footsteps. Energy interests go beyond the question of respect for human rights”explains Camille Sari, a specialist in the Algerian economy.
Human rights NGOs make the same observation. “With the Ukrainian crisis, France needs Algerian oil, Algerian gas, so we can clearly see the limit of possible action”observes Patrick Baudouin, president of the League of Human Rights in France.
He thus wished that France might “within Europe and through the voice of Europe” act “to try to come to the aid of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights and more broadly to Algerian human rights defenders”. The president of the LDH denounces the “timidity” of French diplomacy in the face of the recent dissolution of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights and other “violations” in this country.
12,000 arrests since the start of the Hirak movement in February 2019
Zaki Hannache, an Algerian human rights defender exiled in Tunisia, claimed to have documented at least “5,500 legal proceedings, 1,200 arrest warrants and 12,000 arrests” in Algeria since the start of the Hirak protest movement.
“Thanks to the war in Ukraine, the sequence is politically very good in Ukraine, the power can continue to lock up opponents without this being really denounced by the European chancelleries. The prices of the barrel and therefore of gas have increased which has allowed to give more financial margins to power. More than 98% of the value of the country’s exports are constituted by the price of hydrocarbons. And more than 60% of the State’s revenues come from hydrocarbons and especially from gas. are there and the regime can buy social peace”explains the economist Camille Sari.
“A very good sequence for the diet”
But can Algeria alone supply the necessary gas to Europe or at least partially respond to European demands? “For now, Algeria only supplies 5% of the gas Europe needs. In recent years, Algeria has invested less in the sector and gas production has dropped”, notes the economist Camille Sari. Due to a lack of investment, Algerian gas export capacities have fallen from 65 billion cubic meters in 2007 to 42 billion cubic meters in 2021. With growth of 8% in 2021, internal gas consumption now exceeds the level of the country’s gas exports. “ Population growth is there. New towns like Draria 30 kilometers from Algiers run entirely on gas“, notes the economist Camille Sari.
Are the Europeans therefore mistaken regarding Algeria’s ability to supply them with enough gas for their needs? In any case, the main European chancelleries did not react to the latest arrests in Algeria.
The Council of State, the highest administrative court in Algeria, confirmed on Thursday the dissolution of the Rassemblement Actions Jeunesse (RAJ), an NGO which had been at the forefront of the pro-democracy movement Hirak.
The NGO itself announced on its Facebook page the confirmation by the Council of State “of the verdict of the administrative court: (the) dissolution of the RAJ”which had been announced by the Administrative Court of Algiers in October 2021.