The geopolitical changes induced by the war in Ukraine benefited Algeria, which increased its gas market share in Europe. As a major LNG exporter, the country has supplied Europe with gas. It has surpassed Nigeria to become Africa’s largest exporter of LNG to the continent in 2023.
However, Algeria lost its first place in 2024, slightly ahead of Nigeria as the leading gas-exporting power. During the first six months of the year, Algeria exported 6.25 million tonnes compared to 6.31 million tonnes during the same period in 2023, according to data from the “Arab and Global LNG Markets Update” report for the first half of 2024, established by the Energy Research Unit based in Washington.
African gas exports down
Note that this report recalls that Algeria was classified last year, by the annual report of OPAEP (Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries), as the leading exporter of LNG in Africa for the first time since 2010, surpassing Nigeria, leader for more than a decade. In 2023, Algeria had a total LNG export volume of around 12.9 million tonnes compared to 10.2 million tonnes in 2022, while Nigeria had exported 12.8 million tonnes.
Nigeria returned to the top of the exporting countries in the first quarter of 2024 with 3.76 million tonnes, compared to 2.98 million tonnes for Algeria. Thus, the two countries are competing for first place while other African exporters are far behind.
It is worth noting that according to the Energy Research Unit report, Africa’s LNG exports fell in the first half of 2024 to 15.79 million tonnes, compared to 18.37 million tonnes during the same period. of the year 2023, marking a drop of 14% or 2.67 million tonnes.
