Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi will visit Algeria as part of a plan to phase out Russian natural gas.

Algeria will agree to increase gas exports to Italy by 50% as part of an agreement to be signed during the Prime Minister's visit, Bloomberg reports citing sources.

Algeria may increase supplies to Italy by 9-10 billion cubic meters per year by the end of 2022. Italy received about 21 billion cubic meters from Algeria in 2021. This made it the largest source of imports after Russia, which supplied 29 billion cubic meters.

An increase in exports is likely to see Algeria replace Russia as Italy's largest gas supplier. However, this may be an ambitious goal. Algeria's energy industry has been hampered in recent years by a lack of investment and political instability. The country is also trying to meet growing domestic demand as the population grows, leaving fewer opportunities for exports.

Algeria's state-owned energy company Sonatrach said in early April that it only had "a few extra billion cubic meters" of gas. However, the company said it will step up gas exploration and likely be able to double production capacity in four years.