Algeria's state-owned energy company Sonatrach said it's become the majority owner of the Medgaz pipeline to Europe via Spain after raising its stake to 51% from 42.96% by purchasing 19.1% of Cepsa's shares in the joint venture.
Sonatrach didn't disclose the value of the deal or how much Cepsa's stake is now.
The 210-km Medgaz pipeline is also on track to boost its natural gas capacity to 10.2 Bcm by Q1 2021 from the current 8.2 Bcm, Sonatrach said Saturday in a statement.
Algeria's pipeline gas exports to Spain and Italy fell by more than 11 Bcm year on year in 2019 to just 21.1 Bcm, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics data, while LNG exports rose by almost 2 Bcm to 16.4 Bcm of gas equivalent.
Sonatrach is being asked to halve its 2020 spending budget from $14 billion to $7 billion due to the oil price slump, the country's president Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in March.
Algeria had already lost $1 billion in oil and gas export revenue in the first two months of 2020 due to the fall in oil prices and the slump in demand triggered by the coronavirus, he said at the time.
