ALGIERS, March 21 (Reuters) - Algerian state-owned energy group Sonatrach has obtained a license to start selling natural gas direct to Portuguese customers, Algerian official news agency APS reported on Saturday.
It said Sonatrach unit Sonatrach Gas Comercializadora (SGC) signed the agreement with the Portuguese government on March 17.
'The Portuguese energy ministry has provided SGC with a license to sell natural gas on the Portuguese market,' APS quoted a source close to SGC as saying.
Some 85 percent of Portugal's gas needs, or 2.5 billion cubic metres a year, are already supplied indirectly by Algeria, under a 20-year agreement signed in 1993, APS said.
The gas flows through the Maghreb-Europe pipeline linking Algeria to Spain via Morocco which came into service in 1995.
Sonatrach began selling liquefied natural gas (LNG) directly to Spanish customers through a Spanish unit last year.
Last June it acquired an interest in Portuguese power company EDP. APS said Sonatrach has 2 percent of EDP.
Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil last month urged foreign gas consumers to change their energy policies to help develop the gas industry, saying tax systems were the main hurdle to exporters wishing to invest in gas importer nations.
(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Louise Ireland and Tom Pfeiffer) Keywords: ALGERIA PORTUGAL/GAS (maghreb.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; +213-21 727020) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
It said Sonatrach unit Sonatrach Gas Comercializadora (SGC) signed the agreement with the Portuguese government on March 17.
'The Portuguese energy ministry has provided SGC with a license to sell natural gas on the Portuguese market,' APS quoted a source close to SGC as saying.
Some 85 percent of Portugal's gas needs, or 2.5 billion cubic metres a year, are already supplied indirectly by Algeria, under a 20-year agreement signed in 1993, APS said.
The gas flows through the Maghreb-Europe pipeline linking Algeria to Spain via Morocco which came into service in 1995.
Sonatrach began selling liquefied natural gas (LNG) directly to Spanish customers through a Spanish unit last year.
Last June it acquired an interest in Portuguese power company EDP. APS said Sonatrach has 2 percent of EDP.
Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil last month urged foreign gas consumers to change their energy policies to help develop the gas industry, saying tax systems were the main hurdle to exporters wishing to invest in gas importer nations.
(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Louise Ireland and Tom Pfeiffer) Keywords: ALGERIA PORTUGAL/GAS (maghreb.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; +213-21 727020) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.