LAlgeria refuses to see one of its main gas customers pass into Emirati hands. Monday May 6, the Reuters agency, citing a Source close to the matter, revealed that the eastern neighbor would cancel its gas deliveries to the Spanish energy giant Naturgy “if the shares of the Spanish company are sold to another company”.
A few weeks earlier, the TAQA fund in Abu Dhabi claimed to be in contact with the investment companies CVC and GIP, each holding 20% of Naturgy, with a view to buying back its shares. The majority holder, Criteria (26.7% of shares), was also surveyed by the Emirati fund regarding a possible partnership agreement.
For its part, the company tells Reuters that no clause in its contract – which runs until 2031 – provides that the gas supply could be affected by “possible changes in the shareholding of either party”. Naturgy also points to changes in the composition of the capital of the parties, which had not “had no impact on contracts”. The situation, more geopolitical than commercial, once again brings to the forefront the disagreement between Algeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The shadow of Morocco
This is not the first time that Algiers has attacked Abu Dhabi head-on. In recent months, the High Security Council of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has repeatedly accused a “brother arab country” of a certain number of “hostile actions”.
The UAE has borne the brunt of numerous accusations from its eastern neighbor: destabilization of Algerian positions in the Sahel and the Maghreb, economic support of the Sherifian kingdom, financing of subversive media campaigns in Morocco… The charges against Sheikh Mohammed ben Zayed are d all the more virulent since the signing with Mohammed VI, on December 4, of a historic agreement between the kingdom and the emirate.
Furthermore, this leak to Reuters could endanger the gradual warming of relations between Algiers and Madrid. While in 2022, the support of the government of Pedro Sanchez for the Moroccan autonomy plan in the Sahara had ignited the powder, the appointment of an Algerian ambassador to Spain last November and the resumption of foreign trade between the two countries could be seen as the end of a crisis.
The cut-off of Algerian gas, if it is not contractually planned, nevertheless remains a serious threat for Naturgy, which imports 5 billion m3 gas and oil from Sonatrach, an Algerian limited company. Algerian gas thus represents almost a third of total Spanish supplies this first quarter, indicates Reuters. Furthermore, Sonatrach itself owns nearly 4% of Naturgy.
