Europe rushes to Africa for natural gas in bid to find alternative to Russia

A new liquefied natural gas project near Senegal and Mauritania’s coastlines may only be 80% complete, but the prospect of a new energy supplier has already drawn visits from several European leaders, scrambling to secure alternative sources after Moscow has reduced natural gas flows to EU countries.
While Africa’s natural gas reserves are vast and countries like Algeria have pipelines already linked to Europe, exports remain low thanks to a lack of infrastructure and security challenges. The initial field off Africa’s west coast is expected to contain about 425 billion cubic meters of gas, five times more than what gas-dependent Germany used in all of 2019, though its production isn’t expected to start until late 2023. Although that won’t help solve Europe’s energy crisis, still, the development “could not be more timely,” says Gordon Birrell, Executive Vice President for Production & Operations at BP. “Current world events are demonstrating the vital role that [liquid gas] can play in underpinning the energy security of nations and regions,” he said in a recent energy industry meeting in West Africa.
Europe has been scrambling to secure alternative sources as Moscow has reduced natural gas flows to EU countries, triggering soaring energy prices and growing expectations of a recession. While the 27-nation EU energy ministers are meeting this week to discuss the worsening energy crisis, European leaders have flocked to countries like Norway, Qatar, Azerbaijan and especially those in North Africa. Further south, Nigeria has Africa’s largest natural gas reserves, but it still accounts for only 14% of the EU’s imports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Projects in Nigeria face the risk of energy thefts and high costs. Other promising countries like Mozambique have discovered large gas reserves only to see projects delayed by violence from armed groups. Still, in the long term, the country is slated to become a major exporter of LNG after significant deposits were found along its Indian Ocean coast in 2010.