This is one of the important announcements made following Mario Draghi’s visit to Algiers. The head of the Italian government came to seek from President Tebboune a solution to increase his supply of Algerian gas and oil. Among the announcements going in this direction, a consortium of four oil companies including the Italian ENI signed this Tuesday, July 19 a production sharing contract for the exploitation of the gas and oil fields of the Berkine basin for an amount of four billions of dollars.
For Mario Draghi, Algeria has become a privileged, if not indispensable, partner. Italy must learn to do without Russia where 45% of its gas came from before the war in Ukraine, and part of the solution to this problem is sleeping under the sands of the Sahara, more precisely in the Berkine basin in the southern border of Tunisia.
” The agreements signed today in Algiers reflect the broad spectrum of collaboration between our countries. Algeria is a very important partner for Italy, it has become the first gas supplier of our country “said Mario Draghi via the Chigi Palace Twitter account.
Vertice Intergovernativo ?? ??, Draghi: Le Intese firmate oggi ad Algeri riflettono l’ampio spettro di collaborazione tra i nostri Paesi. Algeria is a most important partner for Italy, it is the first fornitore di gas del nostro Paese https://t.co/WIENsEnVas pic.twitter.com/VwBR08XUfc
— Palazzo_Chigi (@Palazzo_Chigi) July 18, 2022
ENI, Total, Occidental Petroleum and Sonatrach will exploit the hydrocarbon deposits there for the next 25 years and share the production.
Production sharing is a novelty for companies operating in Algeria, a novelty made possible by a legislative amendment introduced in 2019. The partners should recover one billion barrels of oil equivalent in various hydrocarbons.
Other good news for Mario Draghi, Algeria will increase its gas deliveries. According to Agence France Presse, in the coming days, Algiers will supply four billion cubic meters of additional gas to Rome. Since the beginning of the year, Italian imports of Algerian gas have more than doubled, to nearly 14 billion cubic meters.
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