Rabat – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set to travel to Algeria this weekend in the European country’s latest bid to secure more energy supplies away from Russia, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
The visit is set to take place on Sunday and Monday. Meloni’s predecessor Mario Draghi had visited Algeria twice to improve relations with the North African energy producer.
CEO of Italian energy company Eni SpA Claudio Descalzi said last week that the country can expect to have enough energy to make it through the 2023-24 winter if it can secure Algerian gas imports.
Despite possessing relatively large energy reserves, reports from the previous year had claimed that Algeria’s oil company Sonatrach was struggling to honor its commitments with Italy.
Algerian media outlet Algerie Part reported that Sonatrach management staff had organized three urgent crisis resolution meetings in one week. Concerns spiked as the company had reportedly only been able to deliver an additional 4 billion cubic meters of gas instead of the agreed upon 9 billion cubic meters.
Other reports had shown that Algeria was struggling to fulfill its deals with energy importers due to mismanagement and lack of investment. Back in 2021, Bloomberg quoted Algerian officials as suggesting that the country may stop being an exporter within a decade.
European countries are turning to Algeria and other producers for their energy exports as they seek to diversify away from Russian energy sources in light of the war with Ukraine.
