Italian Prime Minister Draghi signed an agreement with Algerian President Amble Majid Tebboune and the Algerian gas company Sonatrach in Algiers on Monday with an impressive Italian delegation comprising two ministers and the CEO of Italian gas company Eni. Italy will import nine billion cubic meters of additional gas from the country under the agreement. A general agreement for cooperation in the field of energy was also signed between the two countries.
Last year, Sonatrach already exported 21 billion cubic meters of gas from Algeria to Italy via the Transmed pipeline that runs to Mazara del Vallo in Sicily. This made Algeria the second country from which Italy imports gas. Until now, Russia has always been the largest supplier of gas to Italy. Almost 40 percent of the gas in Italy comes from Russia.
Last Thursday, Prime Minister Draghi received Prime Minister Rutte in Rome. At that time, both expressed their desire to reduce dependence on gas from Russia as much as possible.
Draghi stated immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine that he wanted to speed up the search for alternative gas suppliers so that families and businesses in need could be helped.
