Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived Monday in the Algerian capital for a visit centered on Rome's demands to increase the quantities of gas it imports from Algeria through a pipeline that crosses Tunisia and the Mediterranean, and to reduce its dependence on Russian gas.
The third channel of Algerian television broadcast pictures of Draghi's arrival, where he was received at the airport by Algerian Prime Minister Ayman Abdel Rahman, along with Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab and CEO of the hydrocarbon company "Sonatrach" Tawfiq Hakkar.
A statement by the Algerian presidency stated that the visit came "in response to the invitation of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune (...) within the framework of strengthening cooperation relations between the two countries."
Algeria is the second supplier of gas to Italy after Russia, which has been in crisis with all its European partners since it invaded Ukraine in February.
Draghi's visit to Algeria was preceded by the visit of Claudio Descalzi, CEO of the Italian energy giant Eni, to Algeria at the beginning of the month, when he met President Tebboune to discuss "the supply of Italy with gas".
Its foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, visited Algeria on February 28, where he discussed with his counterpart increasing gas supplies to offset a possible reduction in imports from Russia.
Di Maio stressed at the time that "the Italian government is committed to increasing the supply of energy, especially gas, from various international partners", including Algeria, "which has always been a reliable supplier."
For its part, the giant Algerian oil and gas group "Sonatrach" announced at the end of February its readiness to supply Europe with more gas, especially through the pipeline linking Algeria with Italy.
Sonatrach's general manager, Taoufik Hakkar, confirmed that "the group has an unused capacity on the Transmed pipeline" that can be used "to increase supplies to the European market."
Italy imports about 95 percent of the gas it consumes, and it is one of the European countries most dependent on Russian gas.
About 45 percent of the gas it imports comes from Russia. Besides Algeria, Italy could increase gas imports from Azerbaijan, Tunisia and Libya, according to the government