By Geoff D. Porter
17 February 2026
On 16 February, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced that he had ordered Algeria’s state-owned energy company Sonatrach to begin work on the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project as soon as Ramadan ends on or around 20 March 2026. The announcement came following a meeting in Algiers with Nigerien President Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani, which itself signaled a rapprochement between Algiers and Niamey. The proposed pipeline would tie Nigerian gas infrastructure into Algerian gas distribution networks to Europe via Niger. Were it to come to fruition, it would simultaneously expand Nigerian gas export capacity, provide energy impoverished Niger with a reliable energy source, offset Algerian domestic gas consumption, and increase European gas supply. The project, which has been on the books for a quarter of a century, is neither impossible nor without challenges.
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