Casablanca – Despite the gas crisis, Spanish Foreign Minister Pedro Sanchez continues to pursue his energy strategy of increasing gas exports to northern Europe and Morocco, incurring the wrath of many Spanish observers.
According to Libre Mercado, a Spanish news platform, the technical gas manager’s official data for the month of June show that half of the continent is enacting emergency measures due to a potential shortfall of supply, while Russia remains on high alert for a potential interruption in gas supplies.
Amidst the limited oil supply, however, Spain’s Foreign Minister continues to support a large gas export scheme to Morocco and northern Europe.
As Spain depends on Russia for 24.4% of its gas purchases, the official numbers of Spain’s gas exports for the month of June have raised numerous concerns in some quarters, according to converging reports by Spanish news outlets.
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Spain’s monthly data concerning its gas exports via gas pipelines for June are “challenging to understand,” Libre Mercado reported today.
According to the data, monthly gas export figures through gas pipelines to the north of Europe and the Pyrenean gas pipeline show that imports are 25% lower than their levels in the same month in 2021. They have decreased from 958 GWh/month to 721 GWh/month.
In the meantime, exports through the same pipeline have increased dramatically since June when compared to the same month last year. They increased from 1,265 to 3,051 GWh/month.
With Algeria having terminated the contract of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, Spain’s decision to use the pipeline to export gas to Morocco has been heavily criticized by the Spanish media.
However, as Morocco is no longer receiving gas from Algeria, it stands to benefit from Spain’s decision to increase its exports.
