Natural Gas deliveries from North Africa to Europe is expected to fall in the future due to the conflicts in the region, a situation that will benefit the Russian Gazprom group, reports Bloomberg, writes Agerpres.

North Africa is the second largest gas supplier to Europe after Russia, which, through Gazprom provides a third of the continent’s gas needs. Algeria and Libya could reduce supplies to Europe in the next two to three years due to the political instability, lack of investment and renegotiating contracts, said Carlo Malacarne, General Manager of the Italian group SNAM SpA, operator of gas transport, mentions Agerpres.

“The risk that North Africa is going to reduce exports to Europe is quite high. Attracting investments is problematic, which means that it is possible that Europe’s dependence on Russian gas will remain at a high level. I do not think that today the European companies will decide to invest in Algeria. Therefore, without gas deliveries from Russia I believe that Europe would have problems,” said Carlo Malacarne.

The International Energy Agency (AIE) has revised down the estimates of Algeria’s gas production up to 116 billion cubic meters in 2020, 20% less than expected last year. The agency estimates that the share of imported gas to Europe will rise to 83% of all gas consumed in 2040 from 63% in 2013.