Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline restarts in Algeria after years of delays

Construction work on the Algerian section of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline has restarted, bringing a long-delayed energy project back into focus after more than two decades of setbacks. The pipeline is intended to carry Nigerian gas through Niger and Algeria before reaching European markets across the Mediterranean. The latest work began in early June in Algeria's Adrar region, following an initial construction phase there in early April.

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The project was officially restarted amid a recent thaw in relations between Niger and Algeria, according to the supplied material. It is more than 4,000 kilometres long and is designed to move gas from Nigeria through Niger and on to Algeria, where it could be exported to Italy and Spain. One researcher quoted in the source said the project is "not at all new" but is now "ramping up," while another analyst pointed to the need for the three partner companies to agree a financial arrangement.

The pipeline has a long history of delays. A deal was first signed in 2009 by Nigeria, Niger and Algeria to define the project, with first gas deliveries then scheduled for 2015. The plan was revived again in 2022 with a memorandum of understanding signed in Algiers, but feasibility studies and financing issues slowed progress.

The source also says Niger lacked the financial resources needed for construction, which helped prolong the project's stagnation. The renewed activity matters because the pipeline could alter the energy map linking Africa and Europe if it is eventually completed. The route would give Nigeria a potential export corridor through the Sahara and into the Mediterranean, while Algeria would strengthen its role as a transit and export hub.

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For Europe, the project is being watched as a possible new source of gas supply, although the source does not say when any deliveries might begin. The project's history also reflects wider political shifts in the region. The source links earlier delays in part to diplomatic tensions, including those following Niger's 2003 coup d'état, which strained relations between Niamey and its partners.

More recently, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune received Niger's junta chief, Abdourahamane Tiani, in Algiers in mid-February, a meeting that appears to have formed part of the broader thaw now visible in the project's revival. The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline has been discussed since the 1980s, according to the source, but it repeatedly moved in and out of official planning. Its scale, the number of countries involved and the financing challenge have all contributed to the slow pace.

The current restart suggests that the political and commercial conditions may be improving, even if the project remains far from completion. What remains unclear is how quickly construction can advance, how the financing will be structured and whether the three partner companies can sustain momentum. The source does not provide a completion date or a timetable for first exports.

The next developments to watch are further construction milestones in Algeria, any new agreements among the partners and whether the diplomatic thaw translates into practical progress on the full route.

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