LNG

African LNG exports have increased 27% yoy to 11.32 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2026, as Qatari supply disruptions pushed European buyers to source more cargoes from Nigeria, Algeria and Angola.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is scheduled to visit Algeria this week, seeking to step up pipeline gas imports after QatarEnergy notified Edison it cannot deliver the five contracted cargoes due in early April.

Volumes regasified and delivered by Adriatic LNG terminal reached a record 44% of Italy’s LNG imports in the first half of this year, amounting to about 10.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) – a 35% rise compared to the pre-year period. Adriatic LNG is Italy’s third most important gas entry point after pipelines from Algeria and Azerbaijan.

Algeria is preparing for more pipeline natural gas deliveries to the European Union as well as more LNG exports as new gas fields are developed amid more discoveries in the prolific gas basins of the North African nation.

The Algerian state oil and gas company Sonatrach has just appointed a new Chief Executive in Rachid Hachichi and he has just held talks with Claudio Descalzi, the CEO of Italian major Eni, the company with the most widespread interests in Algeria.

The talks between Descalzi and Hachichi in Algiers on October 12 were also attended by the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab.

“Eni and Sonatrach shared the joint programs for the development of Eni’s operated gas production as well as gas and LNG exports to Europe,” said Eni.

Descalzi also updated Minister Arkab on the progress of the accord signed by Eni and Sonatrach in January 2022 on upstream decarbonization, includingdetection of fugitive gas emissions in pipelines and plants and the identification of flaring-down opportunities in Sonatrach’s fields.

Eni currently has equity production of about 130,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and is the key international energy company in terms of Algerian oil and gas operations.

Ten discoveries

Sonatrach also revealed that Algeria had made 10 new hydrocarbon discoveries in the nine months to the end of September 2023, adding to the 16 other discoveries made in 2022.

Arkab met the Eni CEO after also attending the 25th ministerial meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) held on October 10 in Malabo, the capital of  Equatorial Guinea, an LNG producer and exporter from its Punta Europa plant on Bioko Island.

The GECF ministers issued a statement declaring that it was “ill advised” to call for any halt in natural gas investments.

“Halting gas investment would curb supplies, lead to an excessive rise in prices and a potential return to coal, as happened in 2022, undermining emissions reduction targets,” said the GECF final communiqué.

Arkab noted that participants at the Malabo meeting highlighted the need for “unrestricted investment” while “strengthening transcontinental financial cooperation in this matter”.

The GECF also advocated more “equitable access” to all technologies related to the exploration, extraction and exploitation of natural gas.

Jan 5 (LNGJ) - Occidental Petroleum Corp., whose main shareholders include US investor Warren Buffett, said it had paid off debts after also completing a $3 billion share repurchase program. “During fiscal year 2022, Occidental repaid over $10.5 billion of debt, including over $1.1Bln in the fourth quarter, reducing the face value of its debt to below $18Bln,” said the company.

Occidental added that the December winter storm in the US affected production. “While normal operations have resumed, average Permian Basin and Rockies production in the fourth quarter is expected to be impacted by a combined 10,000 barrels equivalent per day. Occidental also holds stakes in Algerian oil and natural gas fields.

Algeria, the largest supplier of LNG and pipeline natural gas to the neighbouring countries of the Mediterranean Basin, said it would remain a reliable supplier of gas and oil as Algerian President Abdemadjid Tebboune made a state visit to Turkey and Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab spoke at a Southern Europe energy conference at Sorrento in Italy.

Sonatrach, the Algerian state energy company, was continuing a 10-day shutdown of the Skikda liquefied natural gas plant on the Mediterranean coast because of a technical issue, as the nation also continued to implement a curfew in 14 provinces to try and bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control.

Sonatrach said the closure of the Skikda facility came after the sudden failure of a gas turbine control mechanism.

Sonatrach is one of the main suppliers of LNG and pipeline natural gas to Europe.

It operates two LNG plants at Skikda and Arzew on the Mediterranean coast and via three pipelines to Spain and Italy.

Algerian gas supplies are carried from the Hassi R'Mel hub on the Medgaz pipeline via Beni Saf to Almeria in southern Spain and on the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline from the Hassi R'mel field through Morocco to Cordoba in Spain.

Pipeline gas also goes to Italy through the Trans-Mediterranean Pipeline from Algeria via Tunisia to Sicily and then onwards to the mainland of Italy.

Algerian LNG exports have been falling in recent years and amounted to a combined 10.58 million tonnes per annum in 2020 from both the Skikda plant and the main Arzew facility, a decline of 13.5 percent.

Shipments from the North African country go to France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Spain, the UK, India, Pakistan and several others.

The company said it was still carrying out repairs at Skikda on the affected equipment.

The LNG plant at Skikda has a capacity to produce 4 million tonnes per annum.

“A technical issue occurred on June 11 at the Skikda LNG complex and led to the shutdown of this complex,” said Sonatrach.

“As a safety precaution, Sonatrach has decided to conduct a thorough inspection of the plant,” it added.

So far in 2020, Algeria has exported less than 7MT of shipments, which is around 50 percent of its technical nameplate capacity.

Meanwhile, the oil and gas producing nation is taking more lockdown measures to control Covid-19 in 14 of its 58 provinces.

The partial lockdown measures in the affected areas are from midnight to 04:00 on the morning of the next day and were extended in 14 Algerian provinces for a period of 21 days from June 21 as part of the fight against the spread of Covid-19.

The measures were approved by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad following consultations with the state Scientific Committee.

The Covid-19 measures concern the following 14 provinces: Algiers, Laghouat, Batna, Bejaia, Blida, Tebessa, Tizi-Ouzou, Setif, Sidi Bel Abbes, Constantine, M'Sila, Ouargla, Oran and Boumerdes.

Algeria’s Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab has held face-to-face talks in Algiers with Total Chairman and Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné for discussions including future liquefied natural gas projects.

Algeria, the North African liquefied natural gas producer, has agreed a renewed deal with Tunisia and Italian energy company Eni for the pipeline transportation of more natural gas to southern Europe as the Algerians also prepared to direct new gas finds into industry rather than LNG exports.

Algerian LNG exports have been falling and last year they dropped by 18.2 percent to 10.10 million tonnes compared with 12.34MT the previous year at its two liquefaction plants at Skikda and Arzew on the Mediterranean Coast.

Tunisian Industry Minister Slim Feriani and Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi signed the new agreement to transport Algerian natural gas by pipeline through Tunisia.

The agreement follows another reached with Algerian state energy company Sonatrach in May in relation to the purchase of gas and transport across the Strait of Sicily and completes the contractual framework that allows Eni to import Algerian gas into Italy.

With this agreement, Eni said it was undertaking to operate the Algeria-Tunisia-Italy pipeline for the next 10 years, through its subsidiary Trans-Tunisian Pipeline Company (TTPC), ensuring the necessary reinvestment for modernising infrastructure and taking advantage of the exclusive rights to the entire transport capacity.

Built in the early 1980s and strengthened subsequently over several phases, the trans-Tunisian pipeline consists of two lines, 48 inches wide and around 370km long, from the Algerian-Tunisian border near Oued Saf to the Cap Bon headland. It also has five compression stations.

“With a transport capacity of approximately 34 billion cubic metres per annum, it plays a key role in Italian and Tunisian energy supply and will continue to do so,” stated Eni.

The Italians added that the pipeline contributed to the diversification of sources and to the energy transition in the Italian market.

“The agreement represents a further confirmation of Eni's long-standing commitment to North African countries, not only in hydrocarbon exploration and production, but also in managing transport infrastructure,” added Eni.

Sonatrach Chief Executive Rachid Hachichi also met with Eni counterpart Descalzi to review progress on boosting natural gas output in the North African nation.

Sonatrach reported in early 2019 that several petrochemical joint ventures were under negotiation to monetise its natural gas through channels other than pipeline and LNG exports.

Industry is therefore expected to remain the main driver of natural gas consumption growth in Algeria in the near future.

Residential and commercial demand is set to remain stable, with limited consumption growth owing to gas already having high market penetration in Algeria.

Sonatrach and Eni confirmed the intention to accelerate the development of new oil and gas projects in the North Berkine basin in the Algerian desert that will lead to a significant increase in national production.

The project is composed of two phases. The first is related to oil development and has started up.

The second one, a natural gas project, is scheduled to come on stream by the end of September 2019 with a 180-kilometres pipeline being completed.

Asian LNG producer Indonesia is advancing with its exploration and production activities in Algeria by awarding an engineering and construction contract to increase natural gas capacity for one of the fields it operates in the North African nation.