The European Commissioner for Climate and Energy, Miguel Arias Canete, began a visit to Algiers on Tuesday for high level meetings to restart the energy partnership between the European Union and Algeria.
“Algeria is a reliable and competitive supplier of natural gas for the EU. Europe relies on Algerian gas for its security of supply, and Algeria relies on the European market for the security of its demand,” the EU said in a press release.
“For the EU, the aim is to improve the legislative and regulatory framework for gas and make it more attractive for investors. Diversification is also an important element when ensuring the security of gas supply in the European Union,” it said
The EU co-financed or committed to co-finance liquefied natural gas infrastructure projects (LNG) with an overall value of over € 638 million. In addition to the 150 billion cubic meters of spare capacity it has, the EU is supporting 14 LNG infrastructure projects that will increase capacity by an additional 15 billion cubic meters by 2021,” said the statement.
“The global LNG market is becoming more fluid and competitive. Between 2017 and 2023, global liquefied natural gas trade is expected to grow by more than 100 billion cubic meters from 391 to 505 billion cubic meters.
“According to the International Energy Agency, imports of liquefied natural gas to Europe are expected to increase by almost 20 percent by 2040 compared to 2016 levels,” it added.
In August, Algerian media reports said that the country’s exports of natural gas to European markets were under threat because of a competition from the US.