With the prospect of war looming over the European continent, the US Government has begun asking Eni, TotalEnergies and other energy companies operating in Algeria to see if more gas can be sourced from the country, sources familiar with the matter said.

The move comes as Washington ramps up efforts to find alternative gas supplies for Europe in case any disruption arises from the standoff between Russia and Ukraine.

Eni, Occidental and Total have met to coordinate over Algeria gas and whether a boost in output is possible, an industry source said.

Algeria, which has pipelines to Spain and Italy and a large LNG terminal at Skikda, boosted oil and gas output last year by 5% to 185.2 million tons of oil equivalent. LNG output rose 14%.

The American move is supplemented by those of the European Union, with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying Brussels was talking to the U.S. and other suppliers about boosting gas deliveries to Europe.

Algeria's gas exports to Italy climbed last year, jumping 76% to 21 billion cubic metres - 28% of overall consumption and not far from the 29 Bcm from top supplier Russia. Spain got 29% of its gas from Algeria.  Algeria has also begun to take a serious look at its gas reserves to determine how much additional gas can be transported via existing pipelines to the continent.