Spain reduced gas imports from Russia by more than half in August and made China the second destination for its exports

Spain reduced its imports of natural gas from Russia by more than half last August, when total consumption of this energy source fell and 3,322GWh of Russian gas arrived, less than half of the 8,764 – 40% fewer – who had arrived in July and the lowest number for at least six months. In terms of exports, France continued to be the main destination for the output of natural gas from Spain, while in second place, and in an unprecedented way in recent months, was China, to which 1,130 GWh were shipped, an amount that It corresponds approximately to one shipment and which industry sources attribute to a delivery that stopped in Spain before leaving for the Asian country.

According to statistics published this Monday by the Corporation for Strategic Reserves of Petroleum Products (CORES), in August net imports of natural gas decreased by 7% compared to the same month last year.. The amount of gas that arrived via gas pipeline also decreased and the amount of liquefied natural gas, brought by ship, increased.

Between one and the other, this explains why the United States continued to be the main source of natural gas that entered Spain in August -by ship-, with 10,985 GW.. The second position was occupied by Algeria, which sent 7,800 GWh of gas by gas pipeline and 490 GWh of liquefied natural gas by ship.. The third place of importers is occupied by Nigeria, where 6,857 GWh of gas arrived in August.

Russian gas

In fourth position by origin of imports was Russia, although with a much smaller quantity than the previous month and with the smallest figure since at least the month of February, according to CORES statistics.. In August, 3,322 GWh of Russian gas – liquefied by ship – arrived in Spain, less than half of the 8,764 in July and a lower quantity than the 7.74 in June or the 9,663 GWh in May. It is the lowest figure since at least February, when 5,465 GWh of Russian gas arrived in Spain. According to Cores statistics this Monday, Russian gas imports since January amount to 53,231 GWh and since August of last year, 74,320.

In the middle of the war in Ukraine, with the supply of gas by gas pipeline practically interrupted and with EU sanctions, among other products, on oil and coal, the fact that Spain continues to be one of the main importers of gas from Russia is inconsistent with Government support for Ukraine. They are also France or Belgium, a circumstance that the sector explains is due to the fact that these three countries have enough space to store it in their ports, which makes operators choose them to keep it there until other operations to carry it close. that Russian gas to other countries. The information on gas inputs and outputs from Spanish ports is confidential, but in the gas ecosystem it is assumed that the majority of these operations have their final destination in countries other than Spain.

For its part, the explanation that the Ministry of Ecological Transition has given for months about the arrival of Russian gas is that it is due to previously signed purchase agreements, to which is added that these operators do not have an express prohibition by the EU to break these agreements, which would also assume the payment of huge compensations. Added to this is that Russia is trying to find an outlet for this energy by selling it cheaper.. As the months passed without the Russian gas stopping arriving, the third vice president, Teresa Ribera, has gone from calling on operators to stop buying it to admitting that “it is very difficult” to combat these imports that, at least in August Like the past, with less need for gas, they experienced a notable downward trend.

Gas to China

Regarding the export of natural gas from Spain, it stands out that in August China became the second buyer, when this country had not appeared in Cores statistics at least since February. Specifically, the figure that Cores collects on the gas that arrived from Spain in August is 1,130 GWh, an amount that sources in the sector do not hesitate to relate to a single shipment, a single vessel of liquefied natural gas that, they suggest, would probably have arrived from a producing country, either to make a stopover or waiting for an agreement to sell it, in this case, to the Asian country.

France was the main destination, because Spain sold 1,170 GWh of gas by gas pipeline and 1,143 of liquefied natural gas, by ship.. Then comes China, to which an unprecedented 1,130 GWh were exported in August.

In third position is Morocco. 958 GWh of natural gas went there, in application of one of the points that accompanied the agreement because last year the Government assumed the Moroccan theses on Western Sahara, which opened a channel through which Morocco would buy liquefied natural gas from third parties. countries, which would arrive at a Spanish port to recover its gaseous state and be transported to the neighboring country through the part of the Maghreb gas pipeline that runs through its soil.. Its origin is in Algeria, which has warned Spain on several occasions that it will not allow a single molecule of its gas to end up in Morocco.

Also among neighbors, Portugal was the fifth importer of gas from Spain in August – 470 GWh of gas per gas pipeline. Ahead, Spain exported 867 GWh to Puerto Rico, in this case liquefied, by ship.