Brussels, 29/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Algeria is calling for long-term gas supply contracts index linked to petrol prices to be maintained. Algeria, in addition to Russia, Norway, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, is one of the EU's biggest suppliers of gas. It is requesting that in this field a mutually beneficial and balanced reciprocal relationship is permanently enjoyed by both parties.
During a conference in Paris last week, Ali Hached, the adviser to the Algerian minister for energy and mines explained that the gas market needs security to develop upstream gas supply and to enhance its transport infrastructure. This country does not agree to the index linked method being changed and therefore argued in favour of the security principle applying to everything, including supply and demand. He asserted that mechanisms for setting prices on the gas market are mainly based on oil prices and have demonstrated their reliability and credibility. He also affirmed that gas exporters and producers continued to think that particularly with regard to European and Asian markets, no substitution model existed.
EU relations in the energy field are a major concern to Algeria. On Tuesday,23 October, Karim Djoudi, the minister in charge of this issue informed national MPs that Algeria would feel the full force of the repercussions stemming from the Eurozone crisis. He said that this crisis could have an impact on revenues in Algeria because demand in Europe and in countries affected by the crisis may experience a significant fall in demand. In his opinion, there is a very real danger that financial stability in Algeria could be affected due to oil price per barrel volatility. (FB/transl.fl)