*Algeria has pledged to form a large and growing element of Europe’s energy security landscape in the wake of Russia’s early-2022 invasion of Ukraine. But to date there is little to show for pledges to hike gas deliveries.
*State firm Sonatrach exported 24.84bcm (4.85bn cfd) of gas for the first half of 2023, up a modest 2% on the year-ago figure and a far cry from the record first half figure of 29.11bcm set in 2021 (see chart 1). 2021 as a whole saw bumper exports of 54.6bcm amid record sales gas output of 102.8bcm (MEES, 25 March 2022). However, this was only achieved thanks to cutting gas re-injection rates to unsustainably low levels: exports fell by 10% to 49.3bcm (MEES, 6 January) and sales gas output by 6% to 96.7bcm for 2022. (CONTINUED - 1088 WORDS)
