Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
Arkab with the CEO of Naturgy.
The Minister of State, Minister of Hydrocarbons and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, received, Thursday in Algiers, the CEO of the Spanish company Naturgy, Francisco Reynés. The discussions focused on ways to strengthen cooperation between Sonatrach and Naturgy, particularly in the strategic area of marketing natural gas.
During this meeting, which took place in the presence of the Spanish ambassador to Algeria as well as the CEO of the Sonatrach Group, Noureddine Daoudi, and several executives from the ministry, the two parties, who reviewed the state and prospects of the existing cooperation between the Sonatrach Group and the Naturgy company, particularly in the field of marketing natural gas, underlined the importance of the strategic partnership that has united them for many years. According to a press release from the Ministry of Hydrocarbons, they also explored avenues to expand their joint projects and identify new investment opportunities in the hydrocarbon sector in Algeria.
Arkab underlined the solidity of bilateral relations and Sonatrach’s desire to deepen its partnership with Naturgy, by targeting key sectors generating mutual benefits. For his part, Mr. Reynés expressed Naturgy’s pride in this historic collaboration and confirmed the Spanish company’s commitment to developing new projects in gas and oil, thus strengthening Algeria’s role in the energy market and consolidating energy cooperation with Spain.
In this sense, Naturgy remains a strategic partner of the Sonatrach Group, with which it maintains solid and long-standing relationships, mainly in the field of natural gas. In the same context, the CEO of Naturgy, it will be recalled, also met, last April in Algiers, with his counterpart from Sonatrach to explore new avenues of cooperation in the natural gas trade and develop new projects in Algeria.
Sonatrach also plays a key role in the energy security of the Iberian Peninsula, as a major gas supplier for Naturgy. The Spanish company has a stake in the gas pipeline A gas pipeline is a pipeline intended for the transport of gaseous materials under pressure, most of the time hydrocarbons. Depending on their nature of use, gas pipelines can be classified into three main families: 1- gas collection pipelinesbringing the gas released from deposits or underground storage to processing sites. 2- transport gas pipeline or transit, transporting the treated gas (dehydrated, desulfurized, etc.) under high pressure to the gates of urban areas or industrial consumption sites 3- distribution gas pipelinesdistributing low pressure gas as close as possible to domestic consumers or small industries. Medgaz, which transports Algerian natural gas from the fields of Hassi R’mel to Spain, crossing the Mediterranean. It owns 49% of this project, while the Algerian national company Sonatrach holds the remaining 51%.
The two companies are linked by long-term gas purchase and sale contracts, regularly renegotiated in order to adapt to market developments.
These negotiations on gas prices remain at the heart of the partnership. In 2022, an agreement was signed to revise the prices of long-term gas supply contracts, reflecting market developments, and thus contributing to the security of gas supply to the Spanish market, with Sonatrach deliveries exceeding 83 billion cubic meters over the last decade.