(TAP)- The Tunisian government and the Italian oil group ENI signed Tuesday a new agreement to renew the agreement on the gas pipeline transporting Algerian gas to Italy via Tunisia.

Minister of Industry, Energy and Small-and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), Slim Feriani, said on this occasion that this ten-year agreement (from September 1, 2019) will strengthen the State's cash flow in annual revenues of around 500 million dinars (MD).

"Tunisia will benefit from a royalty on the gas pipeline transporting Algerian gas to Italy, estimated at 5.25%," the minister said, adding that the Italian Consortium is committed to ensuring the maintenance of equipment at a cost of nearly 160 million dollars (nearly 460 MD), over a period of 10 years.

He specified that this agreement will also allow Tunisia to benefit from 3.8 billion m3 of natural gas, which represents 65% of the national annual gas consumption.

The two previous agreements concluded between the Tunisian government and ENI concerning the gas pipeline date back to 1977 and 1991