Algeria announced in the Ulf region of Adrar Province on Thursday the start of work on its part of the “Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline” project, which extends more than four thousand kilometers to export Nigerian gas to Europe via Niger and then Algeria, in a step that the three ministers described as “an embodiment of the joint political will of the leaders of the three countries to build a model African energy partnership.”
Published on: 04/06/2026 - 22:36 Last updated: 05/06/2026 - 13:46
Algeria announced the start of work on its part to complete the “Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline,” which extends more than four thousand kilometers to export Nigerian gas to Europe via Niger and then Algeria, according to a statement by the Algerian Ministry of Hydrocarbons.
The statement said, “The Minister of Hydrocarbons, Mohamed Arkab, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources in charge of Gas of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ekperekbe Ekpo, and the Minister of Petroleum of the Republic of Niger, Hamadou Teni, supervised on Thursday the ceremony of giving the official launch signal for the work to complete the Algerian part of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline Project” in the Ulf region of Adrar Province, about 1,400 kilometers south of Algeria.
Transport capacity reaches 30 billion cubic meters annually
According to the Ministry of Hydrocarbons, this pipeline, upon completion of its construction, is expected to transport “between 20 and 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Nigeria via Niger to Algeria, and from there to regional and international markets.” The gas can then be exported to the European Union either through the Transmed gas pipeline from Algeria to Italy via Tunisia in the east and towards Spain through the Med Gas pipeline crossing the Mediterranean, or it can be converted into liquefied natural gas and transported on cargo ships.
A common political will and a model African partnership
The statement quoted the three ministers as confirming that “this project embodies the joint political will of the leaders of Algeria, Niger and Nigeria to build a model African energy partnership (...) noting that moving to the completion stage represents a decisive step in the process of embodying one of the largest structured energy projects on the level of the African continent.”
Contracts and feasibility studies pave the way
A year ago, the three countries signed contracts in the Algiers capital between their affiliated oil companies, one of which related to “updating the feasibility study,” the other to “compensation,” while the third contract was a “non-disclosure” agreement. On Wednesday, in a meeting in Algeria, the ministers of the three countries approved the final report of the feasibility study completed by the British study office “Penspan” and approved its results and recommendations, according to the Algerian Ministry of Hydrocarbons.
Read also: The Algerian President announces the end of tension with Niger while receiving Abderrahmane Tiani
Project background: from a memorandum of understanding in 2022 to the launch of the works
In July 2022, Algeria, Abuja, and Niamey signed during a ministerial meeting a memorandum of understanding to build a 4,128-kilometre gas pipeline across the Sahara, but without specifying its completion date. When the idea of the project was launched in 2009, its construction cost was estimated at approximately $10 billion.
Algeria has become a major supplier of gas to the European Union (about 12% of its needs) after international demand for gas and oil increased and their prices rose following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022.
France 24/AFP
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