Spain increased its natural gas exports to Morocco while simultaneously curtailing deliveries to European neighbors like Italy, according to Spanish news outlet Vozpópuli.
Data from Spain’s oil reserves agency, Cores, reveals a significant shift in gas exports.
In June 2024, Morocco accounted for 18.5% of Spain’s total gas exports, up from a mere 0.1% in June 2022. Over the past year, Spain has sent a staggering 9,338 gigawatt hours of natural gas to Morocco through the Maghreb-Europe pipeline, a 155-fold increase from the previous year.
This surge in gas exports to Morocco can be attributed to the diplomatic tensions between Algeria and Morocco, which led to the closure of a key pipeline in October 2021.
To avoid an energy crisis, Morocco has turned to Spain to utilize its regasification infrastructure and import liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Algeria has threatened to terminate its gas contract with Spain if any Algerian gas molecules reach Morocco. To maintain its energy relationship with Algiers, the Spanish government has repeatedly assured that none of its gas supplies will be re-piped to Morocco.
While increasing its deliveries to Morocco, Spain has reduced its gas exports to Italy. The Barcelona-Livorno pipeline, which uses smaller LNG carriers, accounted for 18.4% of Spanish gas exports in 2023. However, by June 2024, this share had fallen to just 4.4%. Italy, which has been impacted by cuts in Russian gas supplies, has now secured new deals directly with Algeria and has storage levels above 90%.
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