By Francesca Landini and Alvise Armellini
MILAN -Eni and Algeria’s Sonatrach will examine joint initiatives to enhance the north African nation’s power export capability, the Italian group stated on Monday, as Rome strives to change into a bridge for African commerce with Europe.
The 2 power firms signed new offers on Monday throughout Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s first journey to Algiers, the place she met the nation’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Algeria final yr emerged as Italy’s greatest gasoline provider, changing a big a part of the imports that beforehand got here from Russia.
Rome needs to additional enhance its power imports from Algeria, performing as a hub for provides between Africa and northern Europe within the coming years.
Underneath this plan, state-controlled Eni would leverage its long-standing experience in Algeria, the place it has been current since 1981.
Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi travelled to Algiers with Meloni to satisfy Sonatrach CEO Toufik Hakkar.
“Two agreements had been signed between Eni and its Algerian counterpart, one to establish actions to cut back greenhouse gasoline emissions and the opposite to attain a rise in power exports from Algeria to Italy and doubtlessly from Algeria to Europe,” Meloni stated at a joint press briefing with Tebboune.
Eni and Sonatrach will examine methods to extend the transport capability for current gasoline provides and likewise work on a brand new pipeline to additionally transport hydrogen, Meloni stated.
She additionally referred to the laying of an undersea electrical cable connecting the 2 nations, and growing the capability of Algeria to provide liquefied pure gasoline (LNG).
“There will probably be a particular pipeline that can contain hydrogen and electrical energy… it is a crucial undertaking that can make Italy a distributor of those energies for the entire of Europe,” Tebboune stated.
Eni’s founder Enrico Mattei created privileged enterprise relationships with a number of north African nations quickly after the top of World Struggle Two.
Meloni stated she deliberate a modern-day “Mattei Plan” for a brand new diplomatic drive in Africa, by which Algeria would play a key function.
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