Mario Draghi in Algiers on Monday is a purely political mission, where he will go with the Minister of Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani. There are no agreements already prepared by Eni to sign, as has been the case in recent months, on the occasion of the missions of Italian government ministers to search for gas to replace the Russian one. If anything, there is a desire to consolidate relations with a country that has become strategic for us, beyond the strict needs of supplies, and to build collaborations on various issues, from social to environmental.
Four billion cubic meters more
To welcome Draghi, Sonatrach (the Algerian oil company) announced that this year it will increase its gas supplies to Italy by another 4 billion cubic meters, in addition to the 2 billion and passes already decided. Which means that in 2022 Algeria will supply us with 6 billion cubic meters of additional gas (since the beginning of the year, it has already sold us 13.9 billion). In a joint note, MiTE and the Farnesina define the extra 4 billion “a further step in the strategy pursued by the executive and which, thanks also to the work of Italian operators, secures the country, already in the short term, in terms of ‘gas supply’. After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the Maghreb country quickly became the first supplier of methane to our country, making the most of the Transmed gas pipeline, which reaches Mazara del Vallo via Tunisia. The Maghreb country at the beginning of the year was selling us 21 billion cubic meters a year, and was second to Russia, which was selling us 29 billion. Draghi had already gone to Algiers in April with Eni’s CEO, Claudio Descalzi, and the Minister of Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani. There he had closed an agreement that from next winter will bring about 10 billion cubic meters of Algerian methane more to Italy, a third of what we were buying from Russia.
The role of Eni
In recent months, Eni has always been at the center of the Italian effort to replace Russian gas. The CEO Descalzi accompanied the premier and the ministers of foreign affairs, Luigi Di Maio, and of the ecological transition, Roberto Cingolani, in the numerous missions around the world. All in countries where the six-legged dog already works, already has implants, and knows how to move. In early March, Di Maio and Descalzi flew to Qatar. From the emirate and Egypt an additional 3 billion of liquefied natural gas will arrive by ship by 2022, which will become 5 in 2023. Eni will also participate in the exploitation of the North Field gas field, the largest in the world. After Qatar, Di Maio and Descalzi went to Mozambique, where they signed an agreement to start importing methane extracted from Eni. An agreement consolidated a few days ago from the visit to Maputo of President Sergio Mattarella.
Relations with Azerbaijan
In early April, Di Maio flew to Azerbaijan. Here he cashed in on Baku’s pledge to increase natural gas supplies by over 2.5 billion cubic meters. A total of 9.5 billion will arrive from the Asian country this year alone. And the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the EU Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, will also go to the country on Monday to strengthen cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan in the energy sector. Brussels and Baku are also working for a long-term alliance on clean energy and energy efficiency Returning to Italy, at the end of April Draghi was supposed to leave for a mission in Angola and Congo, but he took the covid and was replaced by Di Maio and Cingolani, accompanied by the inevitable Descalzi. The booty was rich. 4.5 billion cubic meters of LNG will arrive from Congo by 2024, Angola will increase its supply. All these new supplies are expected to replace 50% of Russian gas as early as 2023, to completely replace it in the second half of 2024.