Russian firms may join Trans-Saharan gas pipeline, Attaf says

According to TSA, Russian companies could take part in building the trans-Saharan gas pipeline (TSGP), but their names have not been made public.

Ahmed Attaf, Algeria's foreign minister, made the announcement during talks in Moscow on 27 October with his Russian counterpart, Sergueï Lavrov, on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit.

TSA named the TMK group, which makes steel tubes and equipment for carrying hydrocarbons, as a company that could take part.

Attaf said that Algeria was finalising the contract that would link Russian companies to the project.

Attaf said that the energy minister had asked him to tell Russian partners that things were moving forward well and that the contract would be concluded. TSA gives the energy minister's name as Mohamed Arkab, minister of hydrocarbons.

Attaf described the project as a strategic partnership, because it covers Niger as well as Algeria. He called the step a significant development in economic cooperation, but did not name the companies concerned.

Sonatrach started work on the pipeline in June, from Aoulef in Adrar wilaya, TSA reported. The pipeline is more than 4,000 kilometres long, TSA reported, and is meant to carry 20 to 30 billion cubic metres of Nigerian gas a year to Europe.

In Algeria, the pipeline follows the trans-Saharan road corridor from the Niger border to the national dispatch centre at Hassi R'Mel.