Work begins on Spain-Algeria gas pipeline

Ech-Chorouk, 10 march 2008, Source : Reuters

Work on the 8 billion cubic feet per year gas pipeline between Spain and Algeria has begun with the arrival in Spain on Friday of a boat to weld and lay pipes, a statement from the Medgaz consortium said.
The boat belongs to Italian oil services firm Saipem and will weld pipes for four weeks in the southern port of Almeria.

In the second half of the year, the first stretch of the 210 km pipeline will be laid near the Spanish coast and is scheduled to begin transporting gas from Beni Saf in Algeria by 2009.

Algeria's state-run Sonatrach has a 36-percent stake in Medgaz, Spanish energy company Cepsa 20 percent, Spanish utilities Iberdrola and Endesa 20 percent and 12 percent, and Gaz de France 12 percent.

Algeria is Spain's main supplier of natural gas, providing 33.3 percent of its imports last year. Spain imported the equivalent of 409,000 gigawatt-hours of gas last year, or slightly more than consumption, which totalled 406,300 GWh.

Spain's production of gas is minimal and came to just 202 GWh in 2007.

The meeting with Bouteflika was attended by Energy Minister, Mr. Chakib Khalil and Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Mourad Medelci.

Arab media circulated very recently that mentioning that talks on the transfer of nuclear energy for peaceful reasons was high on the agenda during the latest talks held between Bouteflika and Sarkozy when the latter visited Algiers.

Blix is one of the greatest diplomats and UN figures that opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the United States , as he headed a delegation of inspectors to investigate in Iraq 's possession of weapons of mass destruction. Blix is a Swedish diplomat and opposed threatening policies pursued by the United States against Iran on the nuclear file.