It is a visit that will further consolidate the ties between the two countries.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi was received in Algeria on Monday July 18 by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, with whom he co-chaired the 4th Algerian-Italian summit.

An opportunity that allowed the two countries to seal agreements in particular to increase the supply of Algerian gas to Rome.

The summit, which was attended by six Italian ministers in addition to the head of government, "aims to confirm the privileged partnership in the energy sector", according to the services of the Italian Prime Minister.

Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Mario Draghi signed a series of agreements concerning justice, micro-enterprises and start-ups, industrial and energy cooperation and sustainable development.

>> To read also: supply of gas to Europe: could Algeria, Qatar and Iran replace Russia?

Algeria, which maintains privileged relations with Italy, "has become in recent months its first gas supplier", after having been overtaken for a long time by Russia, from which came 45% of the peninsula's gas imports, underlined Mario Draghi in a statement to the media, alongside Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Several countries have looked to Algeria to reduce their dependence on Russia since it invaded Ukraine in late February.

Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced, for his part, the signing "tomorrow (Tuesday), of an important agreement between (the American) Occidental, (the Italian group) Eni, and (the French) Total which will make it possible to supply Italy in significant amounts of additional gas.

Some 13.9 billion m3 delivered since the start of the year

On Friday, the Algerian press agency had already announced the delivery this week of an additional 4 billion m3 of gas from Algeria to Italy.

Since the beginning of the year, Algeria has supplied Italy with 13.9 billion m3, exceeding the volumes initially planned by 113%.

It plans to deliver a total of 6 billion additional m3 to it by the end of 2022, according to the official Algerian agency APS.

Eni, present in Algeria since 1981, manages with the Algerian giant of hydrocarbons Sonatrach the TransMed gas pipeline which connects the country to Italy, via Tunisia.

It can transport up to 32 billion m3 of natural gas per year.

"Algeria exports 22 billion m3 via the Transmed gas pipeline", which leaves a capacity of 10 billion additional m3 that can be exported, expert Abdelmajid Attar, former Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, told AFP in April. Energy.

The agreement for an increase in volumes delivered to Italy had been announced by Mario Draghi during a first visit to Algiers in April.

But at the time, he had given no figures.

Eni had just mentioned the use of the "available transport capacities of the gas pipeline (Transmed) to ensure greater flexibility in energy supply, and to gradually supply increasing volumes of gas from 2022, (in order to arrive) at 9 billion m3 of gas (additional) per year in 2023-24".

The gas contract between the two countries was renewed in May 2019 for a period of eight years (until 2027), in addition to two additional optional years.

With AFP

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