The Libyan General Electricity Company (GECOL) and the National Electricity and Gas Company of Algeria (SONELGAZ) signed an agreement to expand cooperation in the fields of production, transport, distribution of electricity and gas, renewable energy and training, on Sunday, 27^th December 2020.

The signing was followed by a press conference in Algeria. The Chairman of the board of GECOL, Wiam al-Abdelli, said that cooperation with Algeria forms part of the continuation of the exchanges that took place between the teams of both companies, after the intervention of the SONELGAZ technical team in October to repair and restart the Libyan energy station in the Khoms region in less than 10 days.

According to a statement issued by GECOL, the Chairman welcomed the support of the Algerian company to make up for the large deficit in energy production and emphasises that the support came due to the effective contribution of SONELGAZ teams for the exploitation of 500 megawatts in the Libyan network after maintenance works.

Speaking at the press conference, the Director-General of SONELGAZ, Chaher Boulakhras, said that the new agreements come after the concluded one between both companies in the field of production. He said the partnership has been expanded to include the transportation and distribution of electricity and gas, as well as renewable energy and training.

The DG said a working group will be set up in a few days to be active in various areas of cooperation between both countries.

“Regarding renewable energies, SONELGAZ has experience gained on completed projects in the fields of engineering, maintenance and operation of power plants,” he added.