Angola has signed a gas supply deal with Italy, seeking to ramp up gas supplies as Italy urgently scrambles to break away from Russian gas over the Ukraine war.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi says the country is planning to add Angola and Congo-Brazzaville to a portfolio of suppliers to substitute Russia, which provides about 45% of Italian gas.
The deal paves way for partnership between Italy and Angola in the fields of renewable energy, biofuels, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and training in technology and environment.
The deals in Angola and Congo could bring Italy an additional 1.5 billion cubic meters and 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, respectively.
Early this month, Algeria announced plans to boost gas exports to Italy by 50%, seeking to become Italy’s main supplier of gas. The country will aim to increase supplies to Italy by 9 to 10 billion cubic meters on an annual basis by as early as the end of 2022. In 2021, Italy received around 21 billion cubic meters from Algeria.
Meanwhile, the European Union is courting Nigeria to be its first African liquified natural gas supplier, even as it tries to reduce its reliance on Russian gas. After the United States and Qatar, Russia was, in 2021, Europe’s third liquified natural gas supplier.
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