The announcement, which comes two days after Algeria announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Morocco, suggests that Algiers will do without the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, which connects Europe via Morocco.
Algeria said that all of Spain’s supplies of Algerian natural gas would now be provided via its gas pipeline directly connecting the two countries, without going through Morocco, the official APS news agency reported. The announcement, which comes two days after Algeria announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Morocco, suggests that Algiers will do without the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, which connects Europe via Morocco.
During a meeting with the Spanish Ambassador, the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab affirmed: “Algeria’s total commitment to cover all of Spain’s natural gas supplies. through the Medgaz “which directly connects the two countries, according to a ministry statement reported by APS. The Minister underlined in this context “the recent project to extend the capacity of the Medgaz gas pipeline” and recalled according to APS “the efforts made by Algeria to guarantee the security of natural gas supplies to the Spanish market”.
Last week, before Algeria decided to “review” and then completely sever its relations with Morocco, the kingdom said it was in favor of maintaining the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, the contract of which is due to expire in October 2021. Algiers on Tuesday announced that it would sever diplomatic relations with Rabat, citing “relentless hostile acts perpetrated by Morocco against Algeria”. Traditionally difficult, relations between Morocco and Algeria became more strained last year when former US President Donald Trump decided to recognize Rabat’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, in return for normalizing Morocco’s relations with Israel.
