Algeria Reclaims Top Spot As Spain's Largest Natural Gas Supplier

By meeting 25% of the nation's monthly gas needs in January, Algeria recaptured the status of Spain's top natural gas provider, according to Enagas.

Since Enagas started compiling records, Reuters reports that Algeria has long been Spain's top natural gas supplier.

However, Spain's public acceptance of Morocco's ambition for autonomy in the contentious Western Sahara region caused a deterioration in relations between Algeria and Spain, which resulted in the United States knocking Algeria off the top spot.

After Spain's acknowledgment, the previous Maghred-Europe pipeline was shut down in the final quarter of 2021.

The "treaty of friendship, good neighbourliness, and collaboration" that Algeria signed with Spain in 2002 was stopped last year as a result of the pipeline closure, Algeria claimed.

Sonatrach of Algeria and Naturgy of Spain amended the 2022 natural gas prices in October, but they postponed discussions of the 2023 prices.

Sonatrach supplies Spain with around 5 billion cubic metres of gas annually, according to estimates from Reuters from last October, in accordance with agreements made decades ago.

The contracts have periodic price reviews, and they are still in effect at the conclusion of this decade.

Despite withdrawing its ambassador from Madrid in June as tensions rose, Algeria agreed to uphold its contractual responsibilities to sell gas to Spain.

According to Enagas data, the Medgaz pipeline carried 8545 GWh of the total gas sent to Spain last month from Algeria.

The United States provided 20.7% of Spain's natural gas in January, with Nigeria coming in third with 20.2% of the country's total supply—all of it LNG.

The biggest volume since June, Spain's Russia deliveries tripled year over year in January to 6372 GWh, up from 2,178 GWh.

The number of ships loading LNG in Spain and sailing to Europe doubled in 2018 compared to 2021, according to a recent Enagas analysis.