ALGIERS�Algeria's national oil and gas company Sonatrach and the Spanish oil firm Cepsa signed an agreement last week to set up a joint venture to conduct a feasibility study on a third gas pipeline linking Algeria with Europe. The proposed 450-km line would link the port of Beni Saf, in northwest Algeria, with Almeira in southern Spain.
Sonatrach said the project is technically feasible and economically attractive, notably because of the important increase in gas consumption expected in Europe.
Sonatrach and Cepsa also urged other international oil companies interested in the expansion of the role of gas in the energy mix to become partners in the joint venture.
Sonatrach said that, over the last decade, the region had seen gas demand rising from 135 billion cu m (bcm) at the beginning of the 1990s to 270 bcm now.
Algeria is already linked to Europe by two other gas pipelines. The first line, on stream since 1966, provides Morocco, Spain, and Portugal with about 10 bcm of gas annually. The second, in operation since 1983, supplies about 20 bcm/year of gas to Italy via Tunisia.