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Algeria’s state-owned energy company Sonatrach signed Thursday deals with Spanish and French companies to supply eight billion cubic metres per year of natural gas through the new Medgaz pipeline.
"Algeria has always showed it is a reliable partner and has never failed to fulfill its commitments," Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Youcef Yousfi said at the signing ceremony, according to the APS news agency.
The 20-year contracts with Spanish companies Cepsa, Endesa and Iberdrola plus GDF Suez of France formalised preliminary agreements before the final investment decisions on the construction of the pipeline were made in 2006.
All the companies own stakes in the consortium which built the 1,050-kilometre (650-mile) pipeline linking Algeria and Spain at a cost of 900 million euros ($1.3 billion).
The Medgaz pipeline, the third linking North Africa and Europe, is due to begin operations on April 1 and has a total capacity of 11.4 billion cubic metres of gas per year.