To What Extent Can Africa Plug the Russian Gas Gap?

According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, Algeria is Africa's largest producer of natural gas, with around 101 billion cubic meters extracted in 2021 - followed by Egypt, Nigeria and Libya. However, all of the African gas producing countries together do not even produce half of Russia's output, as a glance at this infographic shows. Russia is also clearly ahead in terms of export volume, too. This direct comparison therefore shows that Africa is only capable of cushioning European supply gaps to a limited extent.

Nevertheless, the continent's gas producers are likely to benefit from the current crisis. Algeria and Italy, for example, have agreed to increase supplies by about 40 percent by 2023. The country also plans to significantly expand its production over the next few years. Germany, previously heavily reliant on gas imports from Russia, could also benefit. However this would require investment in the development of new fields, Algerian Energy Minister Mohammed Arkab told German news site Spiegel Online.