Europe turns to Africa in bid to replace Russian natural gas

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — European leaders are turning to Africa for more natural gas as they try to replace Russian energy amid the war in Ukraine. While Africa’s natural gas reserves are vast and North African countries like Algeria have pipelines already linked to Europe, a lack of infrastructure and security challenges have long stymied producers in other parts of the continent from scaling up exports. Nigeria has the continent’s largest natural gas reserves but only accounts for 14% of the European Union’s liquefied natural gas imports that arrive by ship. Algeria and Egypt accounted for 60% of Africa’s natural gas production in 2020 and don’t export enough to replace Russian supplies of the fuel that powers factories, generates electricity and heats homes.