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Join on Telegram Rabat – Spain has denied Algeria’s claims that the Spanish government is planning to sell Algeria’s gas to Morocco.
On Wednesday, the Algerian Ministry of Energy and Mines threatened Spain saying that it would end its gas contract with the Spanish government if any of its gas is sold to Morocco.
“Any conveyance of the Algerian natural gas delivered to Spain, whose destination is other than that specified in the contracts, will be considered as a breach of the contractual commitments, and consequently may lead to the termination of the agreement between Sonatrach and its Spanish customers,” the Algerian ministry said.
The Algerian ministry claimed that Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab received an email from his Spanish counterpart, who notified him of Spain’s decision to “allow reversing the gas flow direction” through the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline.
The Maghreb Europe gas pipeline had been supplying Spain with Algerian gas through Morocco until October 2021, when the Algerian regime decided to end the contract for the pipeline.
In response to Algeria’s threats, sources from the Spanish energy ministry said that the European country “limited itself to responding to the request for support expressed by its partner, Morocco, to ensure its energy security on the basis of commercial relations between the two countries.”
Under this agreement, Morocco will be able to buy liquified natural gas on the international market and “unload it in a peninsular regasification plant.”
The sources emphasized that Morocco will use the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline to export it to its territory,” emphasizing that the gas sold is “in no case coming from Algeria.”
Citing “complete transparency,” the sources stressed that this action has been discussed with Algeria in recent months and was communicated this Wednesday to the Algerian government.
Algeria’s threat appears to be another attempt to put pressure on the Spanish government following its new position on Western Sahara.
In March, the Spanish government officially announced its endorsement of Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible basis to end the dispute over Western Sahara.
The Spanish position angered Algeria’s regime, which supports, finances, arms, and shelters the separatist group of the Polisario Front. The separatist group has been claiming independence over Western Sahara in an attempt to undermine Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over the region.
This is not the first time Spain received similar threats from the Algerian regime. Following Spain’s new position, Algeria’s gas and oil company Sonatrach announced a plan to “recalculate” gas prices to the Spanish government.
The Algerian regime also recalled its ambassador from Spain, denouncing Sanchez’s government’s support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan.
Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune also shared frustration at Spain’s position, describing it as “morally and historically unacceptable.”
The Spanish government responded to Algeria’s frustration, emphasizing that its decision to endorse the Moroccan autonomy initiative is a “sovereign decision.”
“Spain has made a sovereign decision within the framework of international law and there is nothing else to add,” the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Monday.
