Eni: Algeria's gas supplies to Italy will reach 28 billion cubic meters by 2024

The CEO of the Italian "Eni" group, Claudio Descalzi, said on the sidelines of the visit of Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni to Algeria, that Algeria will increase gas pumping to Rome to reach 28 billion cubic meters by 2024, up from 25 billion cubic meters in 2022.

The Italian energy group Eni said, on Monday, that Algeria will increase gas pumping into the country to reach 28 billion cubic meters by 2024.

This came in the words of its CEO, Claudio Descalzi, in a statement to the press on the sidelines of the visit of Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni to Algeria.

Descalzi explained, "We annually update the agreed quantities, which were fully respected by Algeria. We were supplied with an additional 3 billion cubic meters in 2022, in addition to another 3 in 2023 and more in the future."

According to the official of the Italian group, "Algeria's supplies were only about two years ago, in the range of 21 billion cubic meters, and the quantities will reach 28 billion cubic meters in 2024...we will exceed these quantities in 2025."

In 2022, Algeria and Italy (the government of Mario Draghi) signed contracts to pump additional quantities of gas amounting to an additional 9 billion cubic meters in the medium term, as part of Rome's efforts to get rid of its dependence on Russian gas.

After the Russian-Ukrainian war, Algeria became the first supplier of natural gas to Italy.

Algeria, through the state hydrocarbon company Sonatrach, supplies Italy with natural gas through the Transmed-Enrico Mattai pipeline, which reaches Italy via the Mediterranean Sea, passing through Tunisia, with an annual transport capacity of 32 billion cubic meters.

On Sunday evening, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Algeria as part of a two-day working mission, her first visit abroad since taking office.

Meloni is expected to meet Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the presidential palace in the capital, and the meeting will culminate in the signing of several agreements in the field of energy, industry and space cooperation.