Africa’s largest gas producer Algeria is expected to start gas production from its Timimoun field in 2019 – two years later than planned – with negotiations for contracts to potentially supply Europe currently underway, according to the Spanish energy firm Cepsa, which is one of the stakeholders in the field.
“We’re close to finishing development of the area, we’re still making more drills and developing all the surface facilities and should be in operation some time in the beginning of 2019,” the Cepsa chief executive Pedro Miro told The National in Abu Dhabi.
Discussions are currently underway to potentially take gas from Timimoun, which is expected to produce 1.6 billion cubic metres annually into Europe through the 757km Medgaz pipeline linking the North African state with Spain.
“The gas contract is being negotiated right now and to my knowledge this has not been completely defined. Cepsa is the main investor partner and partner of Sonatrach in Medgaz, which is a huge pipeline – the only one – linking directly Algeria with Europe through Spain. We built it with them, we’re the two main shareholders.
“If the possibility exists, we’d be delighted to bring this gas into Spain or into Europe,” he added.
