ALGIERS, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Algeria will increase its gas sales to Europe this year by expanding the capacity of two pipelines linking the north African country to the gas-hungry market, state energy group Sonatrach said.
The rise will be in addition to a planned increase of 8 billion cubic metres, the capacity of the new Medgaz pipeline, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year, the company said in its bulletin Market News.
Algeria pumps gas to Spain and Italy through the two existing pipelines under the Mediterranean, the capacity of which will increase by 7.7 billion cubic metres in 2009, according to Market News.
The two pipelines currently export 63 billion cubic metres per year and supply about 20 percent of Europe's gas imports.
Sonatrach has a 36 percent stake in the undersea Medgaz pipeline linking Algeria to Spain, Spanish energy company Cepsa has 20 percent, Spanish utilities Iberdrola and Endesa 20 percent and 12 percent, and Gaz de France 12 percent. (Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Anthony Barker)