Algeria Tunisia: The Tunisian Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Mines has settled the controversy over the news circulating about Algeria’s refusal to supply Tunisia with gas.
The director-general of electricity and energy transition, Belhassen Chiboub, denied Sonatrach’s refusal to supply Tunisia with gas.
In a statement to the Tunisian radio “Mosaique”, Chiboub indicated that the contract for the supply of natural gas between Algeria and Tunisia includes clear clauses relating to the tariff.
The same official added that the tariff does not include a change in the contractual quantities with Algeria, noting that the supply contract between the two countries was launched in the 90s.
Belhassen Cheboub said: “There is no crisis between us and Algeria, and the problem lies in the fact that we have requested variable additional quantities on top of the contractual quantities. »
He continued: “These additional quantities have no commitment and require technical programming, and Algeria cannot respond immediately to our request due to the Ukrainian crisis and the pressure on gas and others”.
On Monday, the secretary-general of the Tunisian General University of Electricity and Gas, Abdelkader Jelassi, said that large parts of the country would live in darkness, due to Sonatrach’s refusal to export gas to him outside the contractual framework. and outside the tax framework.
In a statement to Jawhara FM radio, Jelassi said that Tunisia depends 99% of its electricity production on gas, of which 38% is from national production and the rest from Algeria.
He specified that the Algerian gas intervenes within the framework of a contract between the two countries, in addition to another amount in exchange for the passage of the Algerian gas.
As for the rest, it is out of contract, which Sonatrach expressed, according to the spokesman, for not having supplied it to the Tunisian Electricity and Gas Company.
