Russia became the second largest supplier of natural gas to Spain, overtaking Algeria, which is the traditional exporter of gas to this country. It was reported on Monday by Bloomberg agency with reference to the data of the Enagas Spanish energy company.
Spanish imports of Russian gas in June reached 8.7 thousand GWh, having doubled since May. That's about 24 percent of the European country's total gas needs. Algeria accounts for 22% and its exports to Spain dropped from 9 to 7.7 GWh in May. This is half as much as for the same period in 2021. Against this backdrop, the US remains Spain's main gas supplier, meeting up to 30% of its needs.
Bloomberg notes that such figures are related to diplomatic tensions between Algeria and Spain because of Madrid's expressed support for the Moroccan initiative to settle disputes in Western Sahara. In March, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sent a letter to King Mohammed VI of Morocco in which he stressed that he considered the Moroccan initiative on autonomy of the Sahara regions, introduced in 2007, the most serious, realistic and reliable basis for the settlement of the dispute.
In early June, the Algerian authorities announced the suspension of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborhood and Cooperation with Spain, and announced their intention to stop all export and import operations.
Meanwhile, on June 29, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that Spain for the first time started to send gas to Morocco through the pipeline Maghreb-Europe (MGE), which passes through Moroccan territory and was previously intended to export gas from Algeria to Spain. The gas supplied has undergone a certification process, which confirmed that the LNG is not of Algerian origin, sources in the Spanish ministry told AFP. On November 1, 2021, the Republic of Algeria stopped pumping gas to Spain through Morocco via the export pipeline MGE. After that, Algeria began exporting gas directly to the European Union through the Medgaz subsea pipeline.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Steve Buissinne/Pixabay
Based on materials from TASS